The South African Students Congress (SASCO) has called on the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to address several critical issues affecting students, including delayed allowances, accommodation shortages, and corruption.
NSFAS provides comprehensive bursaries and student loans to deserving learners enrolled in approved courses at universities and TVET colleges. This includes money for tuition and registration fees as well as several allowances for food, accommodation and learning materials.
SASCO recently met the financial aid scheme to raise several concerns concerning NSFAS funding challenges.
NSFAS is currently beset with numerous challenges that threaten to undermine its revolutionary objectives. These challenges are symptomatic of the broader systemic issues that plague our society and the capitalist state apparatus.
Recent months have been plagued with challenges including non-payment of allowances and even student evictions. While the scheme has made efforts to rectify these challenges, students are concerned that allowance non-payment could again manifest itself in the coming months potentially placing students at risk of hunger and eviction.
These allowances are not mere financial transactions; they are a lifeline for students who depend on them for their basic needs, including food, transportation, and study materials.
The student union held a meeting with newly-appointed NSFAS Administrator Nomvalo Freeman to outline a list of demands, including the timely payment of student allowances, improved communication, and stricter measures to combat corruption.
SASCO described the engagements with the administrator as fruitful and says the scheme has unveiled plans to ensure the timely and efficient payment of allowances.
We have however held fruitful engagements with NSFAS, whereby they have brought us into confidence about their plans to disburse allowances more efficiently and effectively.
NSFAS revealed that that universities will continue to disburse NSFAS allowances until the end of the year. In April 2024, the government bursary scheme indicated that universities would be responsible for allowance payments until the end of July 2024, however, this arrangement has been extended until the end of 2024.
The scheme will deposit allowances directly into the bank accounts of TVET college students
While the union welcomed the NSFAS allowance payment plan for TVET college students, they want the scheme to implement the same system for University students. They believe having intuitions responsible for paying allowances is representative of a middleman which they argue they do not need.
We somewhat begrudgingly accept this compromise as we still believe that NSFAS must completely abolish the use of all intermediaries. Student Evictions
Challenges with the payment of accommodation allowances have persisted in recent months putting students at risk of being evicted from their residences.
In an extreme case, this left NSFAS scrambling to prevent evictions by pleading with landlords and processing that all outstanding allowances would be paid
Late payments to landlords and accommodation providers result in students facing eviction and homelessness. This not only disrupts their studies but also endangers their well-being and safety. Adequate and timely funding for accommodation is non-negotiable for ensuring a stable and conducive learning environment.
The union also echoed NSFAS’ previous calls for accommodation providers to submit their claims for accommodation payment.
All landlords who have not yet submitted their claims send their queries to the dedicated email address [email protected].
NSFAS has committed to bolster their current efforts in ensuring that all service providers have received their payments, and to this extent, we want to encourage all landlords who haven’t received payments to make use of the dedicated line to report their cases.
The student also called for improvements in communication between stakeholders to ensure the best interests of students are maintained.
The lack of effective communication between NSFAS and students is a glaring deficiency that creates a breeding ground for misinformation and confusion.
