RE: DEPOSIT AND TOP UP ARRANGEMENTS – FEBRUARY 2025

Dear Current and Prospective Luhambo Students

A decision was made this morning to waive the deposit and top-up at Luhambo for NSFAS Students.

Our decision was primarily based on the risk of the defunding of Students. Although we maintain that NSFAS is not entitled to legally defund students on this basis, we foresee a lengthy battle with them on the topic and will continue to join forces with other groups on the matter. In light of the above, we however want to erase the uneasiness with Students regarding possible defunding.

The decision further comes as a result of NSFAS’s uncertainty around its policies and rate structure for 2025.

As mentioned in the Student meeting this morning:

  1. Luhambo will have to curb services such as Transport, Laundry, Electricity and Water usage amongst others due to the poor bed rate. Details will follow shortly after discussions with the major service providers.
  2. We rely on existing Students to market Luhambo to achieve full capacity.

We want our students to understand that we are going to endure severe financial pressure as a Service Provider following this decision.

We need to All put pressure on NSFAS collectively so that they are forced to come up with a fair and reliable solution once and for all.

We shall attend to the refunding of deposits and top-ups to Students as soon as possible.

Regards
Luhambo Management