The portfolio committee on Higher Education has received its first report from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) since it was placed under administration in April 2024. NSFAS has reported improvement in allowance payment administration.
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.
NSFAS was placed under administration following failures in the distribution of funds to poor students, the inability to implement recommendations of the Werksmans report and a massive backlog of appeals.
Deputy Minister of Higher Education Buti Manamela says deserving students expect to benefit from the critical funding provided by NSFAS.
There's a lot of expectation on the part of the students. Students expect that if they qualify for NSFAS, for student funding, they will be paid on time, their allowances, their accommodation [and] their tuition fees
Following the placement of the scheme under administration, NSFAS implemented new allowance payment systems to ensure that students receive their allowance payments.
Allowance Payment Improvements
NSFAS revealed that the new system has significantly lowered the cost of distributing allowances to TVET College students. Previously, each transaction cost NSFAS R22 and students R10, making the process both expensive and inefficient.
The scheme also reported that it has not received any complaints about the non-payment of allowances since the new payment system for TVET college students was introduced in May.
By transitioning to direct payments via its internal banking system, NSFAS has reduced transaction costs to less than R1 per payment. This change has not only stabilised the system but also decreased student complaints.
While these improvements are welcomed, NSFAS administrator Freeman Nomvalo acknowledged that there is still work to be done.
We're not where we ought to be we still have challenges to resolve we still have Legacy issues that are a pain to students are a pain to society we are committed to resolving them
Nomvalo stressed that payment of accommodation providers remains the scheme’s biggest concern. This as some students have faced eviction due to unpaid accommodation allowances.
The burning issue is that we still need to pay on time, for instance, last month as of now in August we were supposed to pay on the 31st of July but we couldn't. We ended up paying at the beginning of August. When we pay that late, accommodation providers debit orders as has said they bounce their credit score with their financiers get affected
