THE National University of Science and Technology (Nust) is failing to reimburse about $160 000 caution fees to students who graduated at the institution a fortnight ago.
MTHANDAZO NYONI OWN CORRESPNDENT
A caution fee is the amount charged by tertiary institutions for a security deposit which is used to cover damage to property caused by students. If a student is not liable for any damage, the money is refunded at the end of their course.
Commerce students should have been refunded $80 each, Communication and Information Science students $120 each and Industrial Technology students $160 each.
However, those who recently graduated revealed that the university had still not refunded caution fees and were accusing the authorities of playing games with them.
“They are taking us for a ride. We paid those monies as part of our fees, so we are entitled to get them,” one former Nust student said.
“Nust was supposed to have given us those monies a day before graduation, but they told us to submit bank accounts and nothing has been deposited till today.”
Another student said Nust has a record of failing to refund students their caution fees as last year most tudents also battled to get the money.
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“We also know that Nust has a history of failing to pay lecturers, so they want to use our monies to pay salaries for unpaid lecturers,” she said.
Nust was taken to the Labour Court on October 24 by workers over outstanding salaries amounting to $800 000.
Nust public relations officer Felix Moyo said they would refund the caution fees when all students had submitted their bank accounts.
“Students were asked to bring their bank accounts and they are still doing that. We want to pay them at one go. However, we would like to appeal to the students to bear with us, we are going to rectify the situation,” Moyo added.
He said Nust used to pay the caution fees in cash, but the university was now moving with the times, hence the demand for bank accounts.
