R50 MILLION LIFELINE YET AGAIN FOR PROVINCE’S STRUGGLING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

R50 million is on the cards for struggling Eastern Cape university students studying in the province. This was announced by Eastern Cape Premier Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane while delivering the State of the Province Address at Bhisho Legislature.

The plans to avail this financial assistance comes at the backdrop of Premier ’s intervention of the same last year. Premier Mabuyane provided student debt relief amounting to R50 million for students in four local universities; Fort Hare, Nelson Mandela, Rhodes, and Walter Sisulu. During his address, Premier called the intervention “a sign of a caring government”.

“Many young people in our province carry the heavy load of student debt. This affects their aspirations to improve their lives and those of their families. We must remember that when families send their children to school, they want them to have a better life.” He said.

In 2022, the R50 million contributed towards the student’s registration and historic debts. Priority was given to students who did not receive registration fees from NSFAS but qualify for it, those who study Agriculture, Science, Technology, ICT, Engineering, those who completed their studies the previous year but could not graduate, and the money targeted at least 55% female students.

The Provincial Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the institutions to ensure fairness in the distribution of the money