In a thirty year period spanning from 1991, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has disbursed funds of more than R100 billion to financially support over 38 million tertiary students up until 2022.
This has been followed by the government bursary scheme introducing the new NSFAS mastercard that public university and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College students who have been successful for funding, to start receiving their allowances and transacting using this bank card as of the 2023 academic year.
Recently, NSFAS has been engaging with universities on direct payment of monthly allowances, and sessions have been held with universities to come on board.
In order to onboard onto the NSFAS Bank Account, students will need to visit official website or follow updates on official NSFAS social media pages.
Once the funded students are onboarded onto the new system, they will receive the NSFAS bank card (virtual or physical) to perform transactions as they would with mainstream bank accounts.
The new payment solution was first piloted in selected TVET Colleges, and this will be followed by a full roll-out in a phased-in approach at all funded universities and colleges.
The bursary scheme partnered with Coinvest, Tenet Technology, eZaga and Norraca to distribute student allowances via the NSFAS mastercard.
The NSFAS CEO has also revealed that payments will no longer go through institutions of higher learning or third parties anymore, but will be directly paid to students’ accounts.
This payment method will give students control over when payments are made, as well as certainty that they will be paid.
One of the benefits of this payment method also includes students having the freedom to transact using a banking system which is more secure and also assists students in stretching their money through discounts.
How Do Student Allowances Work?
NSFAS student allowances financially assist bursary recipients with their costs of tuition, accommodation, and other study-related expenses.
The Scheme spends more than R10 billion on student accommodation and has limited the amount of money allocated to accommodation to not exceed R45,000.
However, the government bursary commits to improving allowance payments and student accommodation in the coming years.
