No accommodation, food or money to return home.
Scores of hopeful students have been stranded in Gqeberha after travelling to the city hoping to secure a spot at Nelson Mandela University (NMU) after being provisionally accepted.
Since January, many have boarded buses to Gqeberha from afar for the first time without their parents with the hope that their matric results will open the doors to higher education.
Many arrived in the city after having been provisionally accepted by NMU but dozens have been turned away.
Others arrived thinking they had secured a spot for their preferred courses, only to be told they were still on the waiting list or unable to register due to pending National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) approval.
Many have come from rural parts of the country.
On Saturday, hopeful students queued outside NMU’s residence accommodation office hoping to get somewhere to stay.
Some had luggage but others kept their clothing in black bags.
At NMU, 188,835 first-year applications were received and only 7,500 were accepted.
Compounding the issue is SA’s historic matric pass rate of 87.3%, alongside an improved bachelor pass rate of 47.8% for the 2024 matric class.
Meanwhile, senior students have taken to an NMU Facebook page to express frustration over waiting for NSFAS funding while being forced to either squat somewhere or find their way to classes, which start on Monday.
Some called for a protest on Monday until those whose NSFAS status was in progress had received confirmation that the matter had been finalised.
Others did not understand what it meant to be provisionally accepted for financial aid, according to posts on the page.
In one post, a woman said: “I do not want money. I want food. I have not eaten for days and I only drink water when I am hungry or go to sleep.”
Another asked for a place to sleep.
“Until I sort out my accommodation, I am hoping it won’t take more than a week.
“I will assist with groceries and chores. Literally signing up to be a rez [residence] wife, any gender.”
Meanwhile, Busisiwe Muhambi, 20, travelled almost 1,500km to NMU from Hazyview in Mpumalanga.
She was thrilled to have been provisionally accepted into a BCom programme and assumed her admission had been confirmed.
However, after arriving at NMU she was told that being provisionally accepted did not mean she had secured a spot and would have a better chance waiting for acceptance for her second preference.
This meant she had no funding or residence.
“I had to call home and tell them about what was going on because I also did not have money to go back,” she said.
Muhambi lost her phone shortly after arriving in Gqeberha and her father had to borrow money to pay for a taxi she used at the bus station to get to NMU.
It was only after talking to the university’s Student Representative Council (SRC) that she was temporarily housed in the Sarah Baartman Residence, pending her full acceptance.
“I only had something to eat because I told the girl I was staying with about my situation. She gave me bread and R200.”
After arriving on January 30, it was almost a week later when she eventually got confirmation of her acceptance to study for a bachelor of arts in media and communication.
“The SRC had advised I go home. But I feel like God brought me here for a reason.
“Luckily, a person who was meant to pay never showed up for the accommodation.
“The next day we were supposed to go back but luckily I checked my status in the morning and I was accepted.”
On Saturday, she was still being helped with money and food.
“NSFAS has not yet made any payment and if it was not for all the people who helped me I would have no food and wouldn’t have been able to call home,” she said.
Khanyisile Mututu, 19, of Mthatha, said she only got a place to sleep after the SRC intervened.
“When I got here, I was told I was still on the waiting list,” she said.
“I did not have money to go home so I had to wait until I knew what was going to happen,” she said.
Bokamoso Moshoeshoe, 21, said when she arrived on Tuesday from Johannesburg, she was told she could not register because her NSFAS status was pending.
“I deregistered at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology to take up the offer for a diploma in marketing to now not being sure if I will be a student here.
“I am told that [Sunday] is the final day to register but I cannot because I am still waiting for the university to clear this with NSFAS.
“I cannot get a placement in any residence and if I did not have my sister, I would have had no place to stay,” she said.
She has been staying with her sister in KwaNobuhle.
Nozuko Peter, 19, arrived late on Friday in a taxi from East London.
She hopes to study a degree in public administration but was worried she had been allocated a residence in Central which made her feel unsafe.
When the reporter met Peter, she was trying to catch a ride outside the student accommodation office to pack her belongings and attempt another shot at being placed on the waiting list for somewhere on campus.
“I could not sleep there. It was noisy and I did not want to even go outside. I do not want a residence outside campus,” she said.
Nelson Mandela University spokesperson Zandile Ngwendu said the start of the academic year usually came with pressures relating to access-related matters as large numbers of people descended on institutions in pursuit of tertiary education.
She said figures had grown as students were drawn from poor and working-class communities through ongoing national efforts to widen access to higher education.
Ngwendu, however, said applicants were advised to ensure that their academic and residence admission and financial aid statuses were confirmed before travelling to NMU.
“It is important to note, as communicated to applicants in direct correspondence to them, that provisional acceptance does not guarantee a firm acceptance offer,” she said.
“Final selection for each programme takes place in January when the basket of all applicants with a provisional acceptance status will be considered based on the ranking of their final admission score (AS), as calculated from their final matric results.”
She said a comprehensive selection process was then done, with the applicants’ results taken into consideration.
“Applicants are then ranked based on merit; in other words, on the application score and subject requirements for each programme.
“First offers are then given to the highest-ranking candidates based on available spaces.”
SA’s public universities are facing a shortage of spaces due to a record number of applicants.
Universities SA (USAf) chief executive Phethiwe Matutu said that year on year post-matrics seeking higher education were competing for fewer spaces.
USAf is an umbrella body representative of the 26 public universities in SA.
“Undoubtedly, universities’ capacity to absorb eligible matriculants needs to be increased, either by building new universities or expanding the infrastructure in existing institutions — alongside funding them for more staff, added support services and amenities such as water, electricity and information and communication technology infrastructure,” she said.
“Infrastructure should encompass teaching, research and recreational facilities, as well as student accommodation.
“All of this requires a serious review of the current higher education budget.”
She said absorption capacity needed to be expanded not just for universities but in the entire post-school education and training sector which incorporated technical and vocational education and training colleges that included agricultural and community colleges.
The Herald
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