During his briefing on Friday, the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Dr Blade Nzimande urged students to create and update their accounts on the myNSFAS portal so that they may receive their allowances using the NSFAS Wallet. This comes after students issued complaints that they had not been receiving their allowances from their institutions.
Nzimande said that 20 991 students have not yet created their user profiles on the myNSFAS student portal and that this what makes it difficult to allocate funding to students.
"This is the biggest challenge confronting NSFAS which contributes largely to the NSFAS wallet payment failures," he said.
He has thus urged students who have not yet created their accounts on the myNSFAS portal to do so in order to receive their allowances.
"There are 180 293 students whom NSFAS attempted to pay using the NSFAS wallet system, 6 681 of which could not be paid because of locked accounts and 336 have blocked accounts meaning there was a failed attempt to unlock the accounts."- Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Dr Blade Nzimande.
He lists the reasons why students are unable to receive their funds as the following:
- they share cell phone numbers; or
- when the cell phone number registered on their myNSFAS profile is not consistent with their myNSFAS Wallet number.
"I urge student to always ensure that they comply with the NSFAS guidelines and directives to ensure that they receive their allowances on time and without any administrative challenges," said Nzimande.
In order to receive allowances through NSFAS Wallet students will need the following:
- Your own cell phone and valid SIM card
- You must sign your NSFAS Bursary Agreement if you are a new student to NSFAS
Students must ensure that they have access to their cellphone number that they provided to NSFAS when applying for funding. This is because that number will be used to deposit their funds.
If you are a first time user, the process may seem daunting at first but it is pretty simple. Here is the steps on how to get started with your NSFAS Wallet:
- You will receive an SMS welcoming you to NSFAS Wallet
- Once you receive SMS, open it and verify your account by dialing *134*176# and reply with your ID number
- You will then receive a password that you will use when transacting. Note that you need to keep this password secure at all times!
- Do not keep or save your password on your cell phone and always keep your cell phone’s screen locked with a password or pin.
Click here for the full guide on NSFAS Wallet.
