The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will conduct special allowance payment runs to ensure students receive their outstanding allowance payments. Some students have not received NSFAS allowances for the past month which is critical for their educational journey.
NSFAS provides comprehensive bursaries and student loans to deserving students enrolled in approved courses at universities and TVET colleges.
The funding not only includes money for tuition and registration fees but also includes several allowances for food, accommodation and learning materials.
In recent months, thousands of students did not receive their allowance payments from NSFAS putting them at risk of hunger and possible eviction. This has prompted urgent action from the financial aid scheme to ensure students receive their allowances.
TVET College Allowances
NSFAS indicated it would be processing outstanding allowances payments to TVET college students from Monday, 15 April 2024. This special payment run forms part of the scheme's plan to catch up with all outstanding allowance payments.
The purpose of this circular is to advise TVET colleges of the catch-up payment that the NSFAS is busy processing for students to be paid on Monday 15 April 2024.
The financial aid scheme indicated that allowances will only be paid to students whose registration data has been submitted to the scheme. This special payment run will see students receive their allowances while the institutions will receive the students’ outstanding tuition fees.
This payment is aimed at ensuring that all outstanding allowances and tuition for students whose valid 2024 registration data was uploaded onto the NSFAS portal by the morning of 11 April 2024 are paid up to May 2024.
NSFAS had requested institutions to submit registration data by 11 April 2024 which would allow NSFAS to process payments from 15 April 2024.
This therefore means that after this payment. Trimester 1 students would have been paid in full and Semester 1 and Annual students would have received up to 4 months' worth of allowances, i.e. up to May 2024 allowances.
NSFAS added that this payment will also see students finally receive their transport allowances and accommodation allowances. The payment of accommodation allowances ensures that landlords will receive their money and prevent students from being evicted.
The catch-up payment will also include the accommodation and transport allowances which were not paid over to students with the last two payment runs.
University Allowances
NSFAS met with stakeholders in the university sector to resolve allowance payment challenges. One institution indicated that it was resolved that institutions would pay allowances to students for the next few months.
On 12 April 2024, NSFAS granted approval to the University to pay allowances up until July 2024, including outstanding April 2024 allowances.
The university indicated that outstanding allowances from April 2024 will be paid to students by Tuesday, 16 April 2024. NSFAS allowance payments for May and July, which will be facilitated by universities, will be paid on the last day of the month.
Outstanding April allowances will be paid by Tuesday, 16th of April 2024. May-July allowances will be paid by the last day of each month.
NSFAS and universities called for students’ understanding and cooperation during a time that is extremely difficult for students.
In the meantime, the student's cooperation and understanding will be highly appreciated as the University processes payments and continues to engage NSFAS.
