JOHANNESBURG - The Higher Education Department says it has more than R4 billion which still needs to be allocated to students.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has received claims amounting to nearly R500 million so far this year to fund qualifying students.
Earlier this year, the department said R4.5 billion would be allocated to NSFAS and an additional R2.3 billion will be paid directly to universities to cover the shortfall caused by the zero percent fee increase.
The department’s Busiswa Gqandeni said: "You can see that this figure is low when you compare it to the R4.5 billion. This could largely be because institutions are experiencing difficulties with locating students that are on the historic list as some students have sought funding elsewhere."
The department is yet to announce if fees will go up in 2017.
(Edited by Winnie Theletsane)