Blade’s funding crisis denies poor students a better future
The University of Fort Hare (UFH) wants to increase registration fees next year from R3500 to R5000 and increase tuition fees by 15% on top of the 15% increase at the end of last year. These proposed increases will only serve to bar poorer students from tertiary education and by doing so, deny them an opportunity to improve their lives through employment prospects that come with a tertiary education.
The Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (DASO) led Student Representative Council at UFH will be leading the charge to ensure that students at the university are not excluded from the education they deserve just because they cannot afford to pay the large increases.
All students, currently barred from writing examinations due to debt from failures of NSFAS and the University Financial Aid offices, must be allowed to write examinations and those with debts, who are financially needy, must be funded and have their debts removed.
DASO will also specifically push the UFH to take the fight to the Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande, who has not provided the University with adequate funding. His actions are denying opportunities to the poorest of students and cannot be allowed to continue any longer.