The DA calls on the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Buti Manamela, to initiate a departmental review of the NSFAS Act to address the structural problems that continue to undermine the scheme.

The Act is now 27 years old and hasn't been updated in 15 years. NSFAS has grown dramatically in size and complexity since then, yet its structure has failed to keep pace. The result is an institution repeatedly placed under administration and increasingly dependent on costly external support.

This dependence comes at an enormous cost, as confirmed by recent news that NSFAS consultants and advisers could cost more than R535 million.

A review of the Act can make structural changes to decentralise NSFAS so that institutions can take greater responsibility for administering student funding.

That decentralised model will end the R535-million consultant fees.

Minister Manamela has an opportunity to fix the system at its foundation. The DA urges him to initiate the departmental review and begin the work required to build a more accountable student funding model that puts students first.