The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is a vital lifeline for countless South African students, providing crucial financial assistance to help them pursue their academic dreams. Among the essential benefits offered by NSFAS are monthly allowances, which are designed to cover living expenses, accommodation, transport, and learning materials.
NSFAS has outlined its allowance payment plan for the remainder of the year, detailing how payments will be made to students enrolled in approved programmes at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges.
Which NSFAS Allowances Do TVET College Students Get?
NSFAS provides the following allowances to students:
- Personal Care Allowance
- All students funded by NSFAS get the personal allowance
- Transport Allowance
- If you live less than 40km away from the College, you're eligible for the transport allowance
- Accommodation Allowance
They will also cover tuition fees and registration fees.
NSFAS allowances are divided into 10 payments every year. This means that in December 2024, students will not receive any allowance.
December is different to every month due to NSFAS not paying allowances during this month. NSFAS only pays allowances for 10 months every year, during the academic year.
The academic year commences in February and ends in November for most institutions which means that NSFAS pays allowances from February until November.
How NSFAS Allowances Will Be Paid To TVET College Students
As of May 2024, all TVET college students funded by NSFAS began receiving their allowances through direct deposits into their personal bank accounts. Students without existing bank accounts were able to select a bank for this purpose.
NSFAS will continue to utilise this payment method for TVET college allowance disbursements.
Only students with confirmed funding and submitted registration data are eligible to add their banking details on the myNSFAS portal. All submitted bank accounts are subject to NSFAS verification.
NSFAS administrator Freeman Nomvalo has stated that the new payment system has significantly reduced the cost of disbursing allowances to students. The previous payment mechanism was both costly and problematic, with each transaction costing NSFAS R22 and students R10.
By switching to direct payments using its internal banking system, NSFAS reduced the cost to less than R1 per transaction, while also stabilising the system and reducing student complaints.
This article was updated on 25 November 2024.
