The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will look to resolve the current student accommodation challenges facing students. This comes after weeks of protests at several universities around South Africa.
NSFAS spokesperson Slumezi Skosana said they will take measures to ensure students are not left without accommodation due to the rising cost of student accommodation in the country.
Where necessary, Nsfas will have to take extraordinary measures to ensure all Nsfas-funded students are not left stranded due to skyrocketing accommodation costs.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Nsfas will introduce an accommodation cap of R45,000 for university students. The cap was introduced to manage the unregulated cost of student accommodation facilities and prevent profiteering and price collusion by private student accommodation providers.
The introduction of the accommodation cap sparked protests at several universities around the county. Students are concerned that the amount of money allocated to accommodation is not enough and they will be left without a place to live.
Nsfas met with stakeholders in the higher education space, including the South African Union of Students (SAUS) to find solutions to mitigate the challenges currently facing students.
One of the resolutions of the meeting will see SAUS assist Nsfas in the collection of student information who do not have accommodations and are sleeping outside.
The financial aid scheme is seeking alternative accommodation that falls within the cap of R45,000. They are also engaging universities to receive credible information to fast-track the process.
Following the countrywide protest by public university students on issues related to the newly introduced accommodation cap, NSFAS held robust consultations with the South African Union of Students to mitigate these challenges ahead of the commencement of academic classes.
Several universities will be prioritised as NSFAS addresses the accommodation challenges.
These universities are the University of Pretoria, University of Witwatersrand, Stellenbosch University, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Rhodes University and Sol Plaatjie university.
