{"id":59663,"date":"2024-01-16T17:25:17","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T17:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-optimistic-about-student-loan-scheme-for-missing-middle"},"modified":"2024-01-17T16:06:20","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T16:06:20","slug":"experts-optimistic-about-student-loan-scheme-for-missing-middle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-optimistic-about-student-loan-scheme-for-missing-middle","title":{"rendered":"Experts optimistic about student loan scheme for \u2018missing middle\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Experts believe the \u201cmissing middle\u201d loan announced by higher education minister Blade Nzimande will help students and parents who do not qualify for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).<\/p>\n

Nzimande announced on Sunday that at least half of students in the estimated 68,500 missing middle category will be funded by government through a new comprehensive funding model.He said government set aside a R3.8bn initial capitalisation fund to support the missing middle students with R1.5bn coming from the National Skills Fund and R2.3bn from Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas).<\/p>\n

This would be enough to fund 47% of the missing middle students, or 31,884 of the estimated 68,446 total.<\/p>\n

Dr Muki Moeng, deputy vice-chancellor of teaching and learning at Nelson Mandela University, said the funding was a good idea.<\/p>\n

Moeng, however, cautioned that there is a need to also think about the economy when implementing the model and sustaining the funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is a good idea if repayment of the fund will be like the Tertiary Education Fund of South Africa while we were students. We were forced to pay back as soon as we were employed,\u201d she said. She said she hoped there would be a system to monitor and enforce this.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will alleviate strain on parents. However, we need to make sure loans are repaid so we can give more loans to others. It will be sad if we say we going to implement this and then find it difficult to recoup the loans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The missing middle is defined as students who don\u2019t qualify for funding because their household income is above the R350,000 per annum threshold, but for whom tertiary education remains unaffordable because their annual household income is less than R600,000.<\/p>\n

Prof Michael le Cordeur, vice-dean for teaching and learning at Stellenbosch University, said he believed the loan will help the missing middle.\u201cThis has been a major problem for some time and is long overdue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

TimesLIVE Premium reported the criteria for students wanting to apply for a \u201cmissing middle\u201d study loan are:<\/p>\n

students whose annual household income is between R350,000 and R600,000;<\/p>\n

TVET and public university students;<\/p>\n

undergraduate or postgraduate students;<\/p>\n

70% of applicants will be taken from Stem programmes (science, technology, engineering and mathematics); and<\/p>\n

student applicants must sign a loan agreement.<\/p>\n

Students who need loans for ongoing studies must attain an average of 60% or higher. Their loan will cover tuition, learning material and accommodation, and those who complete their qualification in the prescribed time and obtain an average of 70% or higher will have 50% of their loan converted to a bursary on request.<\/p>\n

Le Cordeur said the fact that most students will be taken from the Stem programmes will help lower the high unemployment rate among youth. He said this was because the programmes will help train people for the future workforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaths, technology and science will help train skilled people for the future workforce which will undoubtedly feed into our economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Moeng supported Le Cordeur’s view, indicating there was a need for graduates in Stem subjects.<\/p>\n

\u201cStem subjects are important. A student who is qualified in Stem, whether employed in South Africa or internationally, those students are sought-after,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

While addressing the ministerial community education and training summit in March 2022, Nzimande said the country was facing a skills development challenge due to the ever-increasing number of people who are not in employment, education or training.<\/p>\n

He highlighted key skills which are sought-after, including the digital economy, infrastructure development, data scientists and computer networks.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Experts believe the \u201cmissing middle\u201d loan announced by higher education minister Blade Nzimande will help students and parents who do not qualify for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). Nzimande announced on Sunday that at least half of students in the estimated 68,500 missing middle category will be funded by government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":59662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-59663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nExperts optimistic about student loan scheme for \u2018missing middle\u2019 - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Experts believe the \u201cmissing middle\u201d loan announced by higher education minister Blade Nzimande will help students and p ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-optimistic-about-student-loan-scheme-for-missing-middle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Experts optimistic about student loan scheme for \u2018missing middle\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Experts believe the \u201cmissing middle\u201d loan announced by higher education minister Blade Nzimande will help students and p ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-optimistic-about-student-loan-scheme-for-missing-middle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-16T17:25:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-17T16:06:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/01\/sm_1705414179.730999.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-optimistic-about-student-loan-scheme-for-missing-middle#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-optimistic-about-student-loan-scheme-for-missing-middle\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Experts optimistic about student loan scheme for \u2018missing middle\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-16T17:25:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-17T16:06:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-optimistic-about-student-loan-scheme-for-missing-middle\"},\"wordCount\":612,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-optimistic-about-student-loan-scheme-for-missing-middle#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/01\/sm_1705414179.730999.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"culture and art\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-optimistic-about-student-loan-scheme-for-missing-middle#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-optimistic-about-student-loan-scheme-for-missing-middle\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-optimistic-about-student-loan-scheme-for-missing-middle\",\"name\":\"Experts optimistic about student loan scheme for \u2018missing middle\u2019 - 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