ONGOING student protests in South Africa have once again highlighted various problems with higher education funding. They boil down to challenges of affordability and sustainability. GERALD WANGENGE-OUMA, Director of Institutional Planning, University of Pretoria State funding of universities is inadequate – it hasn’t kept pace with enrolment pressures and the increasing costs of providing higher education. Many students cannot afford to pay fees either. Yet the student financial aid system isn’t a reliable source of support. The result is tension among higher education’s three key actors – universities, the state and students (and society at large). They don’t seem to…