While the government was yet to announce exactly how much will be made available for free education this year, three Eastern Cape universities confirmed receiving millions to assist students who qualified.
Walter Sisulu University (WSU) received the lion’s share of the Eastern Cape allocation with R91-million, while the University of Fort Hare (UFH) received R45-million and Rhodes University R9-million. Nelson Mandela University (NMU) did not provide the amount allocated to it.
The amount was part of R1.5-billion that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) paid to all universities across the country to cover registration fees, books and other essentials.
Although NSFAS said they were unable to confirm how much each university would get in total to fund free education this year, earlier this month NSFAS spokesman Kagisho Mamabolo stated that the up-front payment amounted to at least 13% of provisional allocation that each institution may get from NSFAS this year.
NSFAS media liaison officer Phatisa Ntlonze told the Daily Dispatch that the scheme was not in a position to say how much in total would be paid to each university to cover free education.
“The government has not announced how much will be made available for 2018 free education funding. This is not an NSFAS matter but a government matter. The budget NSFAS uses for funding every year is announced by the Minister of Higher Education and Training every year.
“This year, the minister is yet to make this announcement.
“In other words, we are not in a position to tell you how much has been paid towards Eastern Cape universities for free education because no university has been paid their year’s funding to cover free education students,” said Ntlonze.
Last month, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said the cost estimates for free education had been finalised and would be announced in the budget speech.
The date for the budget speech has yet to be set following the postponement of the State of the Nation Address.
More than 60000 students in the province have applied for free education. Of the new applications, 15072 are from WSU, 8844 are from NMU, 4308 from UFH and 1448 from Rhodes.
A total of 33276 new applications were received from students from TVET colleges throughout the province.
NSFAS is currently in the process of communicating the outcomes of the applications to students.
WSU spokeswoman Yonela Tukwayo said the university was still waiting for the final list from NSFAS to confirm the number of students who would be funded for free education this year.
Tukwayo said based on last year’s WSU student profiles and previously funded students, the university expected R900-million from NSFAS to fund students for free education this year. — arethal@dispatch.co.za
NSFAS shells out R145m to 3 EC universities
Walter Sisulu University (WSU) received the lion’s share of the Eastern Cape allocation with R91-million, while the University of Fort Hare (UFH) received R45-million and Rhodes University R9-million. Nelson Mandela University (NMU) did not provide the amount allocated to it.
The amount was part of R1.5-billion that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) paid to all universities across the country to cover registration fees, books and other essentials.
Although NSFAS said they were unable to confirm how much each university would get in total to fund free education this year, earlier this month NSFAS spokesman Kagisho Mamabolo stated that the up-front payment amounted to at least 13% of provisional allocation that each institution may get from NSFAS this year.
NSFAS media liaison officer Phatisa Ntlonze told the Daily Dispatch that the scheme was not in a position to say how much in total would be paid to each university to cover free education.
“The government has not announced how much will be made available for 2018 free education funding. This is not an NSFAS matter but a government matter. The budget NSFAS uses for funding every year is announced by the Minister of Higher Education and Training every year.
“This year, the minister is yet to make this announcement.
“In other words, we are not in a position to tell you how much has been paid towards Eastern Cape universities for free education because no university has been paid their year’s funding to cover free education students,” said Ntlonze.
Last month, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said the cost estimates for free education had been finalised and would be announced in the budget speech.
The date for the budget speech has yet to be set following the postponement of the State of the Nation Address.
More than 60000 students in the province have applied for free education. Of the new applications, 15072 are from WSU, 8844 are from NMU, 4308 from UFH and 1448 from Rhodes.
A total of 33276 new applications were received from students from TVET colleges throughout the province.
NSFAS is currently in the process of communicating the outcomes of the applications to students.
WSU spokeswoman Yonela Tukwayo said the university was still waiting for the final list from NSFAS to confirm the number of students who would be funded for free education this year.
Tukwayo said based on last year’s WSU student profiles and previously funded students, the university expected R900-million from NSFAS to fund students for free education this year. — arethal@dispatch.co.za
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