Top SA universities: how much they cost

As thousands of students enter university for the first time, BusinessTech looks at the tuition fees and living costs at the top tertiary education institutions in South Africa for 2015.

BusinessTech looks at how much SA students at the top universities in South Africa will need to cover their chosen Bachelor’s costs for the first year of study and includes the following undergraduate degrees:

Bachelor of Commerce (BCom);
Bachelor of Arts (BA);
Bachelor of Science (BSc);
Bachelor of Law (LLB, undergraduate);
Bachelor of Science/Engineering (BEng).

It should be noted that university fees are determined by the modules taken to complete the respective courses, not as a complete degree.

The fees listed below give a range in which various bachelor degrees in the respective faculties fall. The fees are applicable to first year studies for 2015.

For institutions where no Bachelor of Engineering is offered, a Bachelor of Science in Engineering is featured.

University	BA	BCom	BSc	LLB	BEng
University of Cape Town	R43,500 – R59,000	R50,000 – R62,500	R51,000 – R64,500	R46,500 – R52,000	R51,500 – R53,000
University of the Witwatersrand	R33,640 – R43,320	R42,010 – R43,320	R41,080 – R58,580	R32,470	R40,170 – R48,150
Stellenbosch University	R32,534	R33,164 – R46,338	R37,880 – R40,749	R39,606	R45,070
University of KwaZulu Natal	R38,160 – R46,700	R39,170	R30,940 – R39,600	R36,500	R39,150 – R40,000
University of Pretoria	R25,710 – R36,270	R34,720 – R39,610	R36,880 – R54,620	R31,800	R35,530 – R43,670
Rhodes University	R37,200	R40,700	R38,700 – R40,700	R41,730	n/a
University of Johannesburg	R29,170 – R35,970	R29,140 – R37,000	R30,600 – R50,940	R29,460 – R33,840	R34,500 – R42,600
North-West University	R28,140 – R49,200	R38,600 – R41,050	R38,400 – R44,650	R36,500	R43,900

Accommodation

Universities also offer various housing and accommodation for students.

The University of Cape Town’s mountain views come at the greatest cost to students looking for accommodation, with a single residence (self-catering) costing R50,100 per student per year, with double rooms coming in at R35,800 per student per year.

On the opposite end of the scale, North-West University’s residences are less than half that, at R18,280 for a single room residence, and R17,630 for a double room sharing residence.

Wits res students can expect to pay R30,192 for single and R27,232 for double sharing accommodation – the second highest fees.

Stellenbosch students will pay approximately R35,000 (for girls) and R36,000 (for boys) and R29,000 – R30,000 for single and double residences, respectively.

More government-sponsored students

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande announced on Monday (12 January 2015) that the government has increased funding to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to cater for poor and disabled students.

The NSFAS will be funding 205,000 first-time entering and continuing eligible students at universities and 200,000 students at technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges in 2015, the minister said.

The government scheme would provide loans and bursaries totalling R9.5 billion.