The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has confirmed that payments totalling close to R2 billion have been paid to universities around South Africa. These payments form part of the financial aid scheme's efforts to finalise all outstanding allowance payments from the 2024 academic year.
Approximately R1.7 billion was paid to institutions on 27 January 2024 for payment of outstanding 2023 NSFAS allowances.
Regarding the 2023 academic year outstanding payments to Universities, NSFAS paid approximately R1.7 billion on the 27th January 2024 to institutions.
Unpaid 2023 Allowances
NSFAS provides comprehensive bursaries to university and TVET college students. Apart from paying registration and tuition fees, NSFAS also provides students with several allowances to cover costs associated with their studies.
In 2023, it was revealed that NSFAS undertook a reconciliation process to ensure students were paid the correct allowances. The allowances received by students are dependent on several factors including whether they live at home or in accommodation, the type of accommodation and even the type of course they are enrolled in.
However, this reconciliation process meant that thousands of students did not receive their NSFAS allowances. The impact of this was demonstrated at the North West University where students were left hungry and without any money to travel home following the conclusion of the 2023 academic year due to unpaid NSFAS allowance.
NSFAS confirmed that of the 20,000 outstanding allowances from the 2024 academic year, 9128 allowances have been successfully resolved during January. They revealed that the remaining 11,000 allowances are being prioritised and will be processed as part of the 2024 normal disbursement procedure.
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande called on institutions to work with NSFAS to resolve allowance payment challenges. The minister further called on intuitions to allow students to register for the 2024 academic year even if their fees are unpaid due to NSFAS challenges.
NSFAS Recouping Money From Institutions
NSFAS has initiated an ongoing process known as the Closeout Project to reconcile transactions between NSFAS and institutions at a student level. The primary goal of this project is to address issues impacting student funding statuses and payments from previous academic periods across all 50 TVET Colleges and 26 Universities.
The financial aid scheme has collaborated closely with all institutions to complete reconciliations for the academic years 2017-2022. Draft agreements outlining amounts owed to NSFAS and by institutions have been distributed, with some institutions already signing them.
As a result of this effort, NSFAS has successfully recovered approximately R600 million, excluding any recoveries made by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU).
Currently, NSFAS is in the process of finalising agreements with the remaining institutions and arranging for the settlement of outstanding amounts.
