Stats SA unpacks revenue mix for universities

According to Stats SA, higher education institutions depend mostly on government grants and tuition fees for income.

"Of the R63 billion received as income by higher education institutions in 2015, 43% was sourced from government, 34% from tuition fees, 6% from donations and the remaining 17% from other sources, such as investments," says Stats SA.

Tuition fees total R21 billion. 

"If tuition fees are ever done away with completely, both government and higher education institutions will have the difficult task of finding another way to finance this amount. Alternatively, tough decisions on expenditure would need to be made, with increased efficiency the key to reducing costs," says Stats SA.

Unisa, Rhodes University and the University of Venda are the top three institutions relying on tuition fees the most in percentage terms. 

Stats SA says almost half of Unisa's financial resources are dependent on this source of income.

Sol Plaatje University, the University of Mpumalanga, and Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University currently receive the bulk of their income from government grants.

"These three institutions were only established in the last two years and student enrolment figures are still at low levels," says Stats SA.

Higher education institutions received R4 billion in donations during the 2015 financial year.

"Stellenbosch University received over a quarter of this amount, followed by the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Cape Town. In fact, Stellenbosch's financials show that donations to the institution contributed 26% to total income, slightly lower than the 28% contribution made by tuition fees," says Stats SA.

Stats SA says it's important to consider that each institution has its own unique revenue mix.

"Any alterations to the funding model would see different responses based on the particular financial make-up of each institution," says Stats SA.