Historical debt won’t be a hindrance to university registration: Nzimande

12 January 2017 - 12:47 By Nomahlubi Jordaan
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Students funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will not be paying registration fees‚ the Department of Higher Education and Training announced on Thursday.

“We have… gone and made arrangements through NSFAS to pay registration fees for all students as an upfront payment to all universities and TVET colleges in January each year‚” minister Blade Nzimande said on Thursday.

Nzimande was addressing the media in Pretoria on opportunities for the matric class of 2016.

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Nzimande said all NSFAS-qualifying students who were registered in 2016 and were successful in their studies but have accumulated “historical” student debt with institutions of higher education will be allowed to register.

“All universities will also develop processes to enable academically successful ‘missing middle’ students who have outstanding student debt to register in 2017‚” said Nzimande.

  • Most university protests have been legitimate: NzimandeSome student protests are legitimate‚ but there are “opportunistic” forces that use them to discredit government‚ Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said on Thursday.

“All universities have also been requested to manage student debt through fair and transparent debt management policies to ensure that outstanding student debt is recovered over a reasonable period.”

– TMG Digital

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