The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is undergoing a major operational overhaul to address key challenges, particularly in application processing, student accommodation, and ICT infrastructure. This comes ahead of the launch of the 2025 NSFAS application period.
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.
For the 2024 academic year, NSFAS received over 1.8 million funding applications, placing significant strain on its capacity to process them efficiently, according to a recent parliamentary briefing by the administrator.
To illustrate the issue, each staff member can process up to 180 applications a day but with nearly 1.9 million applications, it would take one person close to 10,000 days to complete the task. This highlights the need for increased capacity.
To address this, NSFAS plans to hire additional staff and improve system efficiency. While system instability was a problem in previous years, the organisation has now stabilised its systems and is better prepared for the current application cycle.
We have resolved the system instability and are ready to process this year’s applications. With increased capacity and system improvements, we believe we can manage the workload
However, they acknowledged that simply increasing staff will not be enough to solve the problem. "We plan to hire more staff as we open applications next week. However, even with additional capacity, past system instability hindered progress," said the Administrator.
Accommodation
Another pressing issue is the difficulty students face in securing accommodation, with many reporting delayed payments and eviction threats.
Accommodation has been a persistent problem for students, with payments delayed for months, sometimes even years
NSFAS is focusing on automating processes and improving efficiency to address these challenges. They are also working to increase their on-campus presence to provide better support.
To improve the situation, NSFAS is collaborating with universities, accommodation providers, and students to standardize lease agreements and enhance payment systems. A pilot project with several universities is underway to gather insights and refine the system.
NSFAS runs the accommodation function with fewer than 10 people. Automation is crucial, and we believe it’s achievable, especially with regular process evaluations
Nomvalo also acknowledged inefficiencies in NSFAS's ICT spending, including funds allocated to security and process flow improvements. Poor system configuration and inexperienced teams have led to technical issues such as data looping, where student information changes repeatedly.
To boost efficiency, NSFAS is set to invest in technological upgrades and implement a chatbot that provides immediate responses to student queries.
We’ve introduced a chatbot that allows students to ask questions via WhatsApp and receive instant answers, provided the data is already in the system
While recognising past challenges, Nomvalo expressed confidence in NSFAS’s ability to overcome these obstacles and deliver improved services to students.
