HIGHER education cannot be free.
This is the reality as contained in the report of the Commission of Inquiry into Higher Education and Training.
MZANSI DOES NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO FINANCE TOTALLY FREE HIGHER
EDUCATION.
“There is insufficient financial capacity in the State to provide totally free higher education and training to all who are unable to finance their own education, let alone to all students, whether in need or not,” the commission found.
Heher Commission findings were released by President Jacob Zuma yesterday. He had established the inquiry, headed by Justice Jonathan Arthur Heher, after protests in varsities, where students demanded free education.
It recommended a cost-sharing model for funding varsity students be adopted, where an income contingent loan scheme for all students would be established. It would replace NSFAS.
It recommended TVET students be fully funded through NSFAS. But with varsity students, the commission proposed a public/private partnership between government and banks where they’d make loans available through social responsibility contributions.
“The State will either purchase the loans or guarantee their repayment, subject to appropriate legislative amendments. The commission suggests Sars collect repayments through the income tax system.”
The commission attached non-negotiable principles to this scheme:
- Those who can afford must pay. The obligation to repay will only arise if/when an ex-student achieves a specific income level but may increase with a hike in income.
Zuma said the Inter-ministerial Committee on Higher Education Funding was processing the report before he could pronounce on it.
The EFF said the recommendations would see most poor black students being admitted to colleges, and untalented white students going to varsities.
