The Ministry of Education and Skills Development is considering a radically new option of sponsorship that would, if adopted, see parents paying upfront 50 percent of the tuition costs.

The new move is among many options contained in a report submitted to government by a team of private evaluators.

The ministry through its Department of Tertiary Education Financing engaged a consultancy to reassess the grant/loan scheme, which has not been reviewed since 1995.

The consultancy has also recommend a new direction in the areas of critical human resource for the economy and the award of government sponsorships and recovery of student loans.

The ministry had reportedly indicated that since its inception, the scheme had never been reviewed and as such had become outdated, failing to adequately align with Botswana's present and future economic and social challenges.

In their second draft report dated June 7, 2009 and presented to the ministry, the Evaluation Services Team - Botswana (BEST) PTY/LTD - explains different options for a new system. Led by Professor Sheldon Weeks and assisted by Dr Shabani Ndzinge, the team revealed that their preferred option is the one that has principles of cost-sharing, cost-recovery and equity considerations well balanced.

The option states that parents would pay 50 percent of tuition fees upfront with government paying the other 50 percent. It states that thereafter all other costs would be borne by the beneficiary in the form of a loan from government repayable over a maximum of 15 years after completion of studies with a grace period of three months from the date of completion. According to the report the loan, as is the case with the current scheme, remains interest free with a 10 percent discount on loan for completing studies on time.

Beneficiaries who come forward to indicate that they cannot afford to pay the 50 percent tuition fees would be put through a means test to establish portion of the fees they cannot afford to pay, if any. It states that those who cannot afford to pay anything at all would end up receiving 100 percent support from government on tuition fees as grant from government but will still have to shoulder the 100 percent loan on all other costs.

The researchers explained that this option includes effective cost sharing by beneficiaries right from the start, thus freeing more government funds for sponsorship of an additional number of deserving students.

The second option is that government would pay 100 percent of the tuition fees and the beneficiary covers all other costs in the form of an interest free loan repayable in 15 years. The option does not assign any responsibility for the cost of education to the parents of the beneficiary.

The third option is that the beneficiary would shoulder 100 percent of the costs of their education, with those who need government support being given a loan that cover up to 100 percent of tuition and all other costs at the election of the beneficiary. Here students who are able to pay upfront and avoid taking a loan are encouraged to do so.

The fourth and last option states that government offers financial support only to those students who cannot afford to pay for their education. Under this option, beneficiaries who are able to finance their education partly would be expected to do so. While this option has been included as an option, BEST feels that it should be avoided as it is a fairly complicated option because of the means tests that would be required and the likelihood of disputes it may bring to bear between the department and beneficiaries emanating from the means tests.

The report indicates that three surveys were conducted with 266 University of Botswana (UB) undergraduate students in three faculties being Science, Humanities and Business. A survey of tertiary graduates between 1994 and 2009 and a survey of employers on their views concerning the supply and demand of graduates were also undertaken.

According to the report, benchmarking and comparative studies were carried out through field trips to five countries - Sweden, the Netherlands, Australia, Ghana and South Africa. Further research was conducted in the United States of America (US), England and Namibia. These countries, according to the report, approached the challenge presented by grants and loans, tuition and maintenance costs in different ways.