South African Students Congress SASCO have welcomed decisions about funding allocations of National Student Financial Scheme and considered them to be positive steps toward stabilising access to higher education. However, while appreciating the few gains we have made, they warned that substantive risks remain. These are bedevilling the future of thousands of students and cannot wait for tomorrow to be addressed.
Positive Steps Toward Financial Stability
According to SASCO, these latest NSFAS funding decisions provide a lot of relief to the students who are wholly dependent on financial aid to complete their studies. The organisation further observed that clarity concerning pledged funds lessened anxieties concerning registration and residential colleges costs, affecting most universities and TVET colleges in one way or another, as returning students were grappling with such insecurities.
Persistent Challenges Still Affecting Students
Still, they did express their concern about systemic inadequacies as far as the funding framework was concerned. There is inconsistency in the payment of allowances and in the granting of accreditation, whilst a weakness in communications between the various institutions and NSFAS is disrupting student academic lives. SASCO believes that these challenges put their studies at an elevated risk of failure or failure, owing to financial stress, unnatural to that of academic disruption.
Disruption of Accommodation and Cost of Survival
One of the highest pressure focal points, according to SASCO, is housing. An increase in rent charges with a corresponding diminishing availability of accredited homes is making life grueling for many students inasmuch as regards their accommodation. In the event of making funds available for them, they still wait for the payment of accommodation from the said fund -resorted to new locations or live in unstable conditions, both of which deeply impact their academics and physical health.
Emphasis on Hardwiring Oversight and Accountability
The student body has avoided suggesting stronger oversight, accountability that is more stringent, and optimum coordination among NSFAS’s operations, higher education institutions, and service providers. SASCO believes that sustainable solutions are what is missing in preventing such crises that occur year in year out-right at the start of academic years.
Students Called To Refrain
Though with acknowledgement of the risks, SASCO called on students to stay engaged with the institution. The organisation also advised students to approach official channels if there are issues. SASCO contended that all things associated with common action and continuous dialogue would stand as a figurehead if we are really to prioritize students’ needs.
Road Ahead
SASCO has made the conclusion that, although NSFAS funding commitments are a step ahead, no real reforms take place. There, a few more students shall continue to experience the barriers that prevent those rights of access to public education.