A committee has been established to review the newly introduced accommodation cap from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). This comes after concerns were raised by various stakeholders regarding the amount available to pay for student accommodation.
NSFAS introduced an accommodation cap of R45,000 annually for student accommodation. The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) said the introduction of the cap was aimed at reducing price collusion and profiteering by private student accommodation providers. It was also implied that the cap would allow more students to be funded by Nsfas.
DHET Deputy Minister Buti Manamela revealed that a working committee has been established to review the R45,000 NSFAS student allowances cap for accommodation.
Manamela explained that the committee will aim to examine how the introduction of the accommodation cap is affecting universities. The committee’s findings may be used to make submissions to the higher education minister to address the potential challenges created by the cap.
They said, “The intention basically is to look at the affected universities” and “look at the extent of the impact of the cap where it is, and also to make proposals to the minister in terms of what needs to be done as it relates to the cap in terms of the universities that are affected.”
We introduced the cap because we realised that there’s a potential collusion amongst, especially, private accommodation providers
Manamela explained that the DHET noted instances where the cost of student accommodation grew extremely high. They suspected that some accommodation providers were colluding.
Several universities that have been affected by the accommodation cap are located in urban areas where accommodation costs in these areas can cost around R100,000 per annum,
The deputy minister says while some accommodation facilities come equipped with state-of-the-art amenities, however, the costs being passed on to the state are unreasonable.
Quite unreasonable because this is not free money, this is money that comes from the state through NSFAS Allocation,
Manamela concluded that private accommodation providers have reported to the Competition Commission regarding the increasing prices of accommodation.
