As the higher education department prepares to funnel more than R6bn to fund additional students in universities, unemployed and unskilled youth will shoulder more than half of the burden.
Students took to the streets in recent weeks protesting against university funding issues after finance minister Tito Mboweni in February unveiled a budget with below-inflation increases for student financial support.
The cabinet approved additional money for university students but with no new allocation of cash, meaning it had to be taken from other parts of the higher-education allocation.
Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, higher education minister Blade Nzimande said the R3.3bn of the R6.3bn in additional money going to the National Student Finance Aid Scheme (NSFAS) would be taken from the National Skills Fund (NSF), an agency set up mainly to support and upskill youth who are not employed.
"We are largely taking money from unemployed youths to give them training opportunities to fund university students.
"In many ways we are robbing Peter to pay Paul. I want to be honest about that," said Nzimande.
The cuts will halt projects aimed at developing much-needed artisans, necessary for SA’s long-term development goals. The NSF was set up in 2001 and is funded through an allocation of about 18% of the Skills Development Levy, which is paid by every employer depending on the size of their salary bill. Its annual revenue is about R4bn.
Other projects that will bear the brunt of reprioritising towards students include a R2.5bn grant to universities and a R500m meant to build new accommodation for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges.
NSFAS, which could only make available R28.5bn for the 2021 academic year faced a shortfall of R5.6bn for university students and R719m for TVET colleges before the cabinet approved the reprioritization.
In scenes that conjured up memories of the #FeesMustFall movement from 2015 to 2017, students began protesting last week after those who were in arrears with fees or had no proof of funding were turned away. They also the historical debt of all students cleared.
The government, which is battling to contain a debt load that’s set to breach 100% of GDP in the next few years, has rejected the demands, which would cost amount R10bn.
He said that the current protests were largely about the missing middle; that is students who come from families that earn too much (more than R350,000 a year) to qualify for NSFAS, but too little to fund their studies.
"The nub of the problem we are facing now is not NSFAS. It is not government policy. The issue is student debt. And who is owing? It’s not so much NSFAS students because since 2018 NSFAS students are being paid for everything.
"The issue we dealing with now is the lower middle class, what I call the missing middle," he said. The minister previously said the historic debt of NSFAS-qualifying students is being dealt with through a process between the funding agency and institutions. NSFAS-qualifying students with historic debt are able to register when they sign an acknowledgement of debt form.
Responding to questions in the National Assembly later on Wednesday, deputy president David Mabuza said resources must be found to assist students.
"It’s a good problem. These are students not sitting at home but looking for an education and to be skilled. It’s a good problem to have and money has to be found to assist them," he said.
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