Minister Blade Nzimande has urged the National Student Financial Aid scheme (NSFAS) to promptly finalise outstanding payments from the previous year. LetCareers Portal reported that thousands of students did not receive NSFAS allowances they were entitled to in 2023.
The impact of unpaid allowances was on display for all to see at the North West University (NWU) at the end of 2023. Several students were left stranded at campus and could travel arrangements to go home and do not have any money for food due to unpaid allowances.
The minister briefed members of the media on Tuesday on the State of Readiness for the 2024 academic year, NSFAS-related challenges and the release of the 2024 matric results.
During the media briefing on preparations for the 2024 academic year, the minister emphasised the importance of not denying affected students the opportunity to register. If institutions deny students the opportunity to register due to unpaid fees from NSFAS, the student risks missing out on crucial coursework during the commencement of the academic year.
I call upon NSFAS working together with the affected institutions to ensure that they speedily resolve all these outstanding cases. Whilst this is being resolved, I urge institutions not to deny NSFAS funded students with outstanding payments to register for the current cycle.
NSFAS confirmed that of the 20,000 outstanding allowances, 9128 allowances have been successfully resolved. The remaining eleven thousand 11,000 allowances are being prioritised and will be processed as part of the 2024 normal disbursement procedure.
In this statement on the 18th of January 2024, NSFAS reported on the number of the 2023 outstanding allowances following the thorough analysis of the data provided by institutions in order to finalise the payment of outstanding allowances for the 2023 academic year.
The financial aid scheme attributed the delayed payment of allowances to delay in the submission of registration data by universities, saying, "NSFAS will continue to engage the affected institutions to promptly resolve these disbursement of the outstanding allowances".
Nzimande also acknowledged that the delay in payments was mainly due to reconciliations with institutions, particularly related to registration data changes. They called on institutions to submit accurate and timely registration data to prevent allowance payment delays.
Submission of accurate registration information is important to circumvent delays in the payment processes.
The minister is now calling for stricter management of the registration adjustment process in 2024 to prevent similar delays. They also emphasised the need for accurate registration information to avoid disruptions in payment processes.
NSFAS needs to be more strict in 2024 on how it manages the registration adjustment process and institutions ought to submit their registration information accurately upon first submission.
