The Real Cost of Higher Education in South Africa
It costs South Africa R50 billion a year to deliver higher education to South Africans. Since 2000 the state has decreased its funding of higher education by 49% while the financial burden for students has increased from 24% to 31%. [1].
In 2019 the average cost of university fees was R64 200. That number is set to drastically increase to R107 000 in 2025 and R165 600 in 2030. [2]
Business tech did a deep dive on how much it would cost a first-year student in 2019 excluding other fees related to textbooks, meals & accommodation:
“The fees sourced include the following undergraduate degrees:
- Bachelor of Commerce (BCom);
- Bachelor of Arts (BA);
- Bachelor of Science (BSc);
- Bachelor of Law (LLB, undergraduate);
- Bachelor of Science/Engineering (BEng).”
How much will the cost be in 2021? Over at Foonda, we did some inflation calculations:
The cost of education in 2020 increased by the Consumer Price Index, on average, that was 4.19% in 2019. [3] The Minister of Higher Education, Blade Ndzimade has defended the department's stance on increasing university fees by 4.7% for 2021. [4]
These costs are the average cost of tuition at various public universities. These costs do not include the average cost of textbooks, accommodation, meals, travelling expenses, electronic equipment like laptops, clothing as matric students move from uniforms to casual etc. All these costs would be a huge burden on many families in South Africa.
We need to provide students, and to a greater extent, households, with alternative ways to access higher education without the burden of cost.
Sign up to our beta program at app.foonda.co if you a student looking for a scholarship or bursary. If you know of a student looking for university funding, please forward the link.
If you are funding organisation or curious about what we are building, you can get in touch with me at ububele@foonda.co
Written by Ububele, Co-founder & COO Foonda
