The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) has identified several key challenges faced by students in private and institution-owned accommodation. Nsfas will work to mitigate these challenges to ensure students have access to accommodation that is conducive to studying.
Members of the Nsfas board and management conducted site visits to universities and Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) colleges across the country to get a sense of the challenges being faced by students concerning accommodation.
These challenges are:
- An insufficient number beds to accommodate students;
- Some institutions do not have their own accommodation.
- There are instances where the state of both private and institution-owned accommodation is not conducive for student accommodation and learning.
- Lack of uniformity in the cost structure of university-owned accommodation, and Private Accommodation Providers (PAPs) were not properly regulated;
- Instances where allowances paid by Nsfas for student accommodation are used for purposes other than what is intended and authorised;
- The PAPs accreditation process is conducted by institutions and is fraught with inconsistencies; it is susceptible to fraud and corruption, while other institutions do not have the capacity for this accreditation process.
Nsfas Chief Executive Officer Andile Nongogo revealed their plan to mitigate the identified issues and kick-start solutions towards sustainable accommodation for Nsfas-funded students.
They explained that these challenges are not new and have persisted for many years. Many of their findings were similar to the challenges faced by students in 2011. This is confirmed by a 2011 report compiled by a Ministerial Committee.
The ministerial committee was appointed to review the provision of student accommodation at universities and benchmark South African universities against each other as well as against international institutions operating in similar environments; an initiative by the Minister of Higher Education and Training.
Nongogo added that accommodation also impacts the performance of students during their time at university.
They said, “There are instances where students exceed their funding years without completing their qualifications, citing circumstances such as living conditions as reasons for failure, and these are some of the unfortunate situations we are trying to manage.”
While Nsfas intends to ensure that all accommodation meet minimum standards, they are also exploring ways to make provision for so-called “backroom accommodation”. This is due to their recognition of the importance of the contribution made by small accommodation providers, particularly in rural and township campuses.
