The Department of Higher Education and Training has allocated around R1.8-billion to increase the number of available beds at public universities by 28 690 by 2020.
In response to a Parliamentary question by opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, Higher Education and Training Minister Dr Blade Nzimande on Tuesday said there were 115 040 beds available for students in 2016.
He highlighted that empowering young people for the future had a much greater chance of success if they had a decent, safe, affordable and accessible place to live while studying.
"The challenges faced by tertiary institutions in providing lodgings for as many of their needy students as possible is an immediate result of the government’s successes in recent years in expanding access to post-school education,” he pointed out.