EXPLAINER | Why university fee increases are unavoidable as UJ students protest over hike

University registration and tuition fees continue to rise each year, leaving many students and families frustrated.

However, Universities South Africa (USAf) CEO Phethiwe Matutu says the increases are not simply about charging students more — they are about keeping universities financially sustainable.

Students at the University of Johannesburg protested this past week against proposed 2027 fee increases, financial exclusion policies, and delayed National Student Financial Aid Scheme allowances (Nsfas).

The demonstrations temporarily disrupted exams and campus access before normal operations resumed.

According to Matutu, universities face the same rising costs as households and businesses, including electricity, water, rates, security, food, cleaning services and staff salaries.

“Universities are not spared. They have to pay all these amounts.”

She said it was difficult to speak about “affordability” when the cost of living had increased across society.

“What would we mean by affordability? The reality is that food has become unaffordable; rates have become unaffordable. And salaries for staff, temporary or permanent, have become unaffordable.

“Fees are supposed to cover the costs incurred by the institution together with the long-term refurbishment costs for the infrastructure.”

Matutu said if universities did not charge enough to cover their costs, they could face financial distress.

“If they’re [don’t], that university is going to go bankrupt. And when that university goes bankrupt, your children and my grandchildren will not have a university to go to.

“We have experienced that where a university cannot pay salaries.”

Matutu said government subsidies had not kept pace with inflation and growing student numbers.

Subsidies had remained at almost the same level, while more money was directed towards Nsfas.

“Because of the shortage [at the] Nsfas, the money kept on going towards that and growing there, whereas these subsidies have been kept at almost the same level.”

She added that the subsidy per student had declined in real terms as enrolment increased.

Universities receive income from three main sources: government subsidies, student fees, and third-stream income such as research grants, donations and philanthropic funding.

However, this was not enough to cover the full cost of operating universities.

“If, with all this type of income, residences can’t be run, the academic project can’t be run, and the laboratories cannot be properly maintained, then that’s when the university starts to get into trouble.

“At the end of the day, a university has to charge them [students] somehow, whether it’s through your tuition fee or through another component of fees.”

Matutu said the bigger issue was the country’s higher education funding model, which she described as unsustainable.

The Nsfas was short about R10bn for the current financial year.

“The model we have adopted is unaffordable. And it’s really unsustainable. All those things must happen simultaneously, but not to the level where the entire system collapses. It has to be carefully chosen in such a way that there is sustainability.”