Student bank would ensure equity through rebates
A student bank would extend funding to poor, working-class and middle-class students, with rebates, writes Melo Magolego
#FeesMustFall is a continuation of the campaign waged by historically black universities. The objective is to problematise the tertiary education funding model, which places an undue burden on students from poor, working class and middle-income households. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) loan model has become a debt sentence for poor students and adds to their black tax burden. Working class and middle-income students are denied access to tertiary education due to lack of funds because they are not covered by NSFAS and lack the assets to provide collateral for loans from banks. A solution to this, is to scrap NSFAS and create a student bank, which would be a parastatal similar to the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). The bank would have only one requirement for granting funding to students: that they be registered at a tertiary institution, a university or technical and vocational college. The bank would require no collateral from students. The funding exte...
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