If our universities were free, this is what would happen to the fiscus

Although the government is spending more on higher education, economists are backing away from supporting calls for free tertiary education. The demand on the fiscus would be large, creating another mammoth funding requirement such as a national health insurance.This would force the government to find a steady stream of R40-billion to R60-billion a year, the equivalent of between 3% and 5% of government spending permanently, said Econometrix chief economist Azar Jammine.