With a new year beginning meant many organisations were trying to tie up loose ends for the next year. NSFAS has now revealed how they plan to smooth things over.
In a statement released, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) revealed that 234 124 students received their NSFAS allowances from 5 December 2023. These payments were part of the reconciled final disbursements for 2023.
This exercise was done in order to disburse the final allowances to students whose allowances were not concluded due to changes in their registration data. The process also ensures that disbursements are paid directly to institutions for tuition and for advancing payments to students.
The process of reconciling NSFAS allowances is being divided into three parts: direct payment of allowances to students; allowances paid to institutions for tuition and allowances paid to students through institutions.
NSFAS is yet to pay 20 000 more students their allowances with the financial aid scheme explaining, "These unresolved cases of disbursements requires further input and consultation with institutions".
They aim to have all outstanding allowances for 2023 paid by 15 January 2024 to ensure that the disbursement of 2024 allowances are not affected by these outstanding NSFAS allowance payments.
The NSFAS board is set to hold meetings with the relevant organisations and stakeholders to brief them on how they are preparing for the 2024 academic year as well as the NSFAS eligibility criteria and conditions.
Many are still wondering what the future holds for allowance payments after it was revealed that former NSFAS CEO, Andile Nongogo, had relations with the service providers used for the direct payment system. On this, NSFAS has said, "The NSFAS board will further make public announcements on the implementation of the Werksmans Attorneys report in relation to the direct payment service providers".
Students Slam NSFAS Excuses For Unpaid Allowances
NSFAS says they are currently working to ensure students receive allowances they are entitled to for the 2023 academic year. However, student unions says these are just excuses.
Dlanjwa, rejected the explanations provided by the NSFAS spokesperson, dismissing them as "absolute rubbish" and "nonsense." They say since the inception of the current payment system, not a single month has passed without a crisis, questioning the need for monthly beneficiary verifications.
The reality is that for the commencement of the current payment system, there's not a single month that has gone by without a crisis, which brings us to the conclusion that the explanation given by the spokesperson of NSFAS and the department, Mr. Mnisi, is absolute rubbish.
Dlanjwa acknowledged the multifaceted nature of the struggle and outlined various strategies employed by SAUS, including engagements with the Department of Higher Education and other stakeholders.
