Delayed student aid payments and accommodation crises have been in South Africa recently, but another catastrophe is unfolding more quietly. Universities are bleeding resources, credibility and operational capacity because the state has abdicated responsibility for student welfare.

In , Linda du Plessis, deputy vice-chancellor for teaching and learning at North-West University, exposed what media coverage often misses: that when funding fails, it is not only students who suffer. The financial chaos into roles they never agreed to – as creditors, crisis managers and scapegoats for systemic dysfunction.

The numbers tell a brutal story. In August 2025, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS)  for universities. This was because applications surged 18 per cent to 1.4 million students, overwhelming the R50.8 billion allocation, and nearly  because they applied during the wrong window.

In addition, landlords have remained unpaid for over a year, with . When funding arrives months late (or not at all), universities face impossible choices: block registrations and trigger protests or absorb costs they cannot afford and face financial ruin.

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September brought what officials called relief. The government  to address the NSFAS shortfall, sourced from loan recoveries and unspent institutional allocations. But experts called it what it was: a band-aid on a gaping wound. The temporary fix did nothing to address the structural dysfunction that created the crisis. Students who received partial allowances still could not cover rent, food or books for full semesters. Universities continued to have to manage the chaos.

Then came October’s unrest at the University of Free State. The university announced that, from 2026, it would : the mechanism that allows students to be preregistered pending their final exam results or their arrangement of funding. The university cited nearly R1 billion in student debt accumulated over five years and said that students who previously could register while arranging payment would now need confirmed funding upfront.

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Protests erupted across all three UFS campuses. At Qwaqwa, . The university , suspended all classes and imposed strict curfews. , and damage assessment continues.

An to phase out provisional registration over two years instead of immediately, but . Some students reject the deal outright. Trust between management and students has collapsed. Court cases loom for arrested protesters. Academic calendars remain disrupted.

The violence tells its own story. It was not an isolated incident but a symptom of systemic failure. Although budget allocations for university education increased from R91.7 billion in 2024 to R96 billion in 2025, most of the extra money flows into dysfunctional NSFAS administration rather than expanding universities or advancing research. Universities bear the hidden costs of this broken system while public attention focuses solely on student protests.

Universities cannot maintain infrastructure, pay salaries, fund research or plan strategically when basic funding flows are chaotic and unpredictable. Municipal bills go unpaid. Academic calendars get disrupted repeatedly, each adjustment carrying costs that cascade through every department. Staff morale collapses under the weight of managing crises they did not create. Research projects stall. International partnerships wither. Equipment goes unmaintained. Libraries cannot purchase new materials. The institutional damage compounds.

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This situation is not unique to South Africa. Across Africa, the pattern repeats. , with  (£438 million) and inadequate operational funding. , only one-third of African countries met education funding benchmarks between 2013 and 2023. Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania all struggle with similar challenges as governments expect universities to function while systematically underfunding them.

The West, too, is getting in on the act. In the US, the Trump administration , while  because of years of frozen tuition fees. The common thread? Governments treat universities as infinitely elastic institutions that somehow keep functioning regardless of impossible burdens.

But this is a false perception. Buildings crumble. Staff leave. Research stops. Quality erodes. And rebuilding takes decades.

What is worrying is that while the 2025 crisis continues,  for the 2026 academic year since the (with higher education minister Buti Manamela warning that no late applications will be accepted this time). So the cycle repeats: surging demand, inadequate funding, universities left to manage the inevitable chaos. Nothing has been fixed. The same structural problems that created the 2025 crisis remain in place for 2026.

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Nations face two options: fix student funding systems now, before crisis point, or wait until universities fail and scramble to rebuild. South Africa demonstrates what happens when multiple failures converge. Students are trapped in limbo and universities are forced into impossible choices. A sector that should drive national development is instead consumed by crisis management.

That is not a funding challenge. That is policy failure with generational consequences. Governments should fix the system or stop pretending that higher education matters to them. Those are the only honest options left.

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Pikolomzi Qaba is a PhD scholar at a South African university and works in communications in a government entity.