Unisa‚ Rhodes and University of Venda rely most on tuition fees

25 October 2016 - 17:05 By TMG Digital

Stellenbosch University scores from donations‚ South Africa's newest universities rely on government funding‚ while Unisa‚ Rhodes and Univen will be hardest hit if the FeesMustFall campaign results in free tuition as they are most reliant on paying students. Stats SA’s latest higher education institutions report shows that of the R63 billion received as income by the country's 20 universities and six universities of technology in 2015‚ 43% was sourced from government‚ 34% from tuition fees‚ 6% from donations and the remaining 17% from other sources‚ such as investments. The rolling protests against tuition fees was equal to a cost of R21 billion at tertiary institutions last year. "If tuition fees are ever done away with completely‚ both government and higher education institutions will have the difficult task of finding another way to finance this amount. Alternatively‚ tough decisions on expenditure would need to be made‚ with increased efficiency the key to reducing costs‚" Stats SA said. Almost half of Unisa’s financial resources are dependent on tuition fees as a source of income‚ followed by Rhodes (44%) and Univen (42%)‚ followed by the University of Johannesburg at 40%.The new kids on the block – Sol Plaatje University‚ the University of Mpumalanga‚ and Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University – currently receive the bulk of their income from government grants. Stats SA commented this is not surprising‚ as these three institutions were only established in the last two years and student enrolment figures are still at low levels.The third most important source of income was donations‚ which totalled R4 billion during the 2015 financial year‚ contributing 6% of total income.Stellenbosch University received over a quarter of this amount‚ followed by the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Cape Town. Stellenbosch’s financials show that donations to the institution contributed 26% to total income‚ slightly lower than the 28% contribution made by tuition fees.Stats SA concluded its data "shows how each institution has its own unique revenue mix. This is an important fact to consider if the country decides to change the way tertiary education is financed. Any alterations to the funding model would see different responses based on the particular financial make-up of each institution"...

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