First-year students at Nelson Mandela University's (NMU) George Campus in the Western Cape have been left stranded due to delays regarding fees and allowances meant to be paid by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
Nearly 400 students have had to resort to squatting with other students or in corridors of accommodation facilities, instead of in a designated room. The reason behind these "appalling" living conditions can be attributed to a lack of accommodation as well as the delays in NSFAS funding.
The scheme is notoriously delayed when it comes to disbursing funds to its qualifying students, and this year was no different.
Beneficiaries of the NSFAS bursary have been experiencing delays in their funds being paid on time for this year. These funds cover tuition costs and the registration fee.
NSFAS also covers accommodation fees, and because beneficiaries (who were approved by the scheme) have not yet received their funds, they were unable to secure the accommodation they were accepted for, because of the delay.
Squatting in irregular spaces is the only way students at NMU can continue to access their tertiary education. Majority of the students affected were unable to receive financial aid from NSFAS because they don't meet the new criteria.
The university is appealing the new NSFAS criteria, which states that courses with fewer than 60 credits will not be funded.
"Students that have below 60 credits for their qualifications will not be funded by NSFAS for accommodation and meal allowances. It's been a month, and we have students that are squatting here on campus, and we feel [that] we are pressured to get a response from NSFAS, because obviously, we cannot be living like this. If the students fail and do not meet the academic criteria for next year, they might be affected and [won't be] funded by NSFAS again," says one student.
Many students at NMU and other institutions have been left stranded and homeless, resorting to sleep in labs and lecture halls. In addition to the lack of space/available student accommodation, private accommodation prices have suspiciously been raised "to astronomical levels", surpassing the threshold stipulated by NSFAS.
Accommodation on NMU's campus is limited, but in addition, accommodation facilities in George are "few and far between."
This same problem was one part of the many reasons why other universities across the country opted to take protest action during the month of February 2023.
While the situation is not ideal, the Head of Student Life and Development on the George campus says squatting is the only way he has been able to assist these students with a place to sleep and meals where possible.
"Time and again, there'll be some students who arrived before NSFAS can respond to them, so we don't [send] them home because they are coming as far as Durban, Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, so we'll give them temporary accommodation until NSFAS responds," he says.
Although the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) made promises of a smooth-sailing academic year, this hasn't been the case.
The plan was, according to NSFAS Spokesperson, Slumezi Skosana, that there would've been an early transferring of NSFAS money to institutions of higher learning, to ensure that students receive allowances when the 2023 academic year commences.
Skosana explained that delays in payment of allowances sometimes occur when institutions don’t provide NSFAS with the registration data of students.
According to the bursary scheme, the majority of students who were not yet paid is due to the late submission of funding data by tertiary institutions.
These ongoing issues with NSFAS amidst student protests have become a severe headache for thousands of university students who are left stranded and academically excluded due to delays in NSFAS payments.
The protests began during the week of 13 February 2023, first at the University of Cape Town (UCT), but has now spread to other universities such as the University of the Western Cape (UWC), Wits University, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), and North West University (NWU).
