Try this new funding model for universities: DA
The Democratic Alliance has proposed a new funding model for crisis-hit universities which face closure amid ongoing demonstrations from students demanding free education.
The political party noted in a statement on Thursday that higher education in South Africa is on the brink of collapse.
“Should our universities not re-open in the next week, it is highly probable that the academic year will be postponed,” the DA said, echoing the sentiments of several vice-chancellors.
“This is not just a crisis for the students who want to study, and those who do not have the funds to, or for our universities which are tasked with producing world-class research, but for our entire country and our collective future. We dare not under-estimate it,” the DA said.
To address the higher education funding crisis, and to ensure that its belief that no person is denied an education because they are poor, the political party proposed the following:
- The poorest students should be comprehensively supported;
- The “missing middle” students should receive support, proportional to their financial standing;
- Better-off students should not receive government financial support for fees or other expenses;
- University subsidies should move gradually towards the level of 50% of costs to (a) support quality education, and (b) minimize the fee-increase cycle we are currently experiencing. The current government subsidy is 40%, down a full ten percentage points since 1994. More state subsidies will mean less money is needed from student fees, reducing the need for fee-increases.
It further proposed that the following basis and financial support as follows:
| Annual household income | Award | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| R0 – R200 000 | Full cost of study | ||
| R200 000 – R350 000 | 66% of the full cost of study | ||
| R350 000 – R500 000 | 33% of the full cost of study |
The DA said that the effect of this approach would be to make university “free at the point of access” to poor students, while still enabling universities to retain a high level of funding and quality.
“To be clear, the DA does not support Universal fee-free higher education,” the party stressed.
“This would translate into a subsidy for the better-off and would deprive the fiscus of funds which could better be spent on supporting poor students. Universal fee-free education might, in fact, deepen inequality in South Africa and reduce the funding available to provide for the poor.”
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