Universities’ cash flow stats give indication of the frustration behind #FeesMustFall
More money came into their coffers than went out in 2015 — the year before the fees freeze
SA’s universities and other higher education institutions remained cash flow positive in 2015, with money coming in outstripping salaries and other expenditure by R9bn. The tertiary education industry’s cash flow statement, released by Statistics SA on Tuesday, gave some indication of the frustration behind the #FeesMustFall movement. In 2013, tertiary institutions got 44% of their income from Department of Higher Education and Training grants, with the 56% balance from "other" sources, which include tuition fees. The latest figures for 2015 show this ratio slipped to 43% grants and 57% tuition fees and other income. Government grants only grew 5.8% to R27bn in 2015 while tuition fee income jumped 10.5% to R36bn, for overall growth in incoming cash of 8.4%, to R63bn. The R1.47bn increase in grants was mainly due to the inclusion of Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University for the first time, Stats SA said in the notes accompanying its annual report on the financial statistics of h...
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