Tens of thousands of disappointed young people have been turned away from three large Eastern Cape universities as applications far outweighed the number of first-year study spots available.
Many of these applicants are from rural areas and say they now do not have money for accommodation or for transport to get back home.
The issue is a hot topic of discussion at Nelson Mandel University (NMU) in Gqeberha, where scores of students lined up outside the main campus on Wednesday morning.
Though disappointed at not yet receiving placement, they were reluctant to speak to the media.
At NMU, 188,835 first-year applications were received and only 7,500 accepted.
At Rhodes University in Makhanda, 19,650 applied with 2,155 accepted, and at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) there were a total 355,000 applicants with 7,333 accepted.
At NMU, Student Representative Council president Lathitha Mbuzwane said several serious issues had arisen during the admissions period.
He said making matters worse was that many matriculants from the rural areas who were apparently told they had been provisionally accepted had arrived in the city with hope.
“But now they are not only disappointed but don’t have the money to get home again.
“The university should cover these costs,” Mbuzwane said.
He said the admissions criteria had overshadowed the perennial problem of the non-arrival of National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) food and accommodation funding.
Once again, even for those students who had received final acceptance and were registered to study at NMU, this money has allegedly not yet arrived.
“Classes are scheduled to start on Monday but how can that happen if these students have no money for food and accommodation?
“The university has leverage and it must help these students to get their NSFAS funding,” he said.
NMU spokesperson Zandile Ngwendu said despite some setbacks, their respective campuses were abuzz with students as they geared up for the start of lectures for the 2025 academic cycle.
Vice-chancellor Prof Sibongile Muthwa had welcomed first-year students and their families during a special ceremony at the weekend.
New students, meanwhile, participated in an orientation programme during the course of the week.
Ngwendu said the power outage in Summerstrand, with no communicated time-frame, had affected some operations on campus.
“This was exacerbated by the loss of generator power to one of the key venues where registration and other admissions-related services were being carried out.
“The university is hard at work on repairs to its generator and has made contingency plans to ensure processes continue.”
She said the university was still finalising its admissions processes, with online and assisted registration under way for applicants who received a firm admission offer.
Monday marked the start of the “change of programme” process, where applicants who were not yet admitted, but met the requirements for their chosen programme, could submit requests to change to an alternate course for which they qualify.
“Admission is subject to the institution’s selection processes.
“Given the volumes of applicants and space limitations, almost all the university’s programmes are already full, and change of programme requests are only open for the few courses that have spaces available.”
She said students wishing to submit their change of programme requests were urged to do so by visiting the university’s official website.
Online registration opened on January 14, while assisted registration has been taking place at the Madibaz Indoor Centre for Gqeberha campuses, and the Mopani Hall on the George campus since February 3, and will continue until Friday.
“The university’s Financial Aid office is continuing the process of clearing students that the NSFAS has marked as eligible for funding.
“This enables other processes, such as registration for tuition and residences,” Ngwendu said.
“Applications are also open for university financial concessions for students who do not qualify for NSFAS, but whose household income does not exceed R600,000 [per year].
“This concession is a relief mechanism to facilitate access to academic and on-campus residence registration for qualifying, academically deserving students.”
Residences, meanwhile, opened on January 31 for first-year students, and will open on Friday for senior students.
“Only students who have confirmation of a firm offer of acceptance, and have secured financial aid and acceptance for accommodation, should come to campus on the applicable days.
“Students are urged to make use of the available online resources aimed at expediting and streamlining access-related processes.”
Rhodes University spokesperson Christelle du Toit said on Wednesday the first-year registration process was now closed.
“It went well. The university registered a higher proportion of students accepting placement offers than in prior years.
“An increase in the number of school leavers has led to high demand.”
She said Rhodes participated in various initiatives to help those who did not get accepted.
“As part of the vice-chancellor’s education initiative, the university partners with [Makhanda education organisation] Gadra and the 9/10ths programme to offer opportunities to local matriculants.
“The programme aims to give matrics who may not have fared well in their final results an opportunity to access quality tertiary education.
“Gadra Matric School provides a one-year full-time programme of classes to prepare students to rewrite selected National Senior Certificate subjects.
“This year, nearly 200 of our first-year students have secured admission to the university through these initiatives.”
She said besides the capacity issue, accommodation was another challenge during the registration and admissions period.
“Accommodation is limited at this time but it is being actively monitored as returning students either accept or decline provisionally allocated spaces in residences.
“The university, through various structures, including links with local businesses and property stakeholders, is also actively working to assist students who are in need of accommodation.”
Yonela Tukwayo, spokesperson for WSU in Mthatha, said the university’s capacity to accept more students was shaped by the size of the subsidy it received from the department of higher education.
“We enter into a contract with the department based on that subsidy, which is in turn affected by the budget the department gets from the Treasury.
“Those who were not accepted should consider the TVET [Technical and Vocational Education and Training] option,” Tukwayo said.
The Herald
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