The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has announced the deployment of support teams to all 50 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges across South Africa.
NSFAS provides comprehensive bursaries and student loans to deserving learners enrolled in approved courses at universities and TVET colleges. NSFAS funding covers tuition and registration fees, as well as several allowances for food, accommodation, and learning materials.
The government bursary scheme said the deployment of staff aims to streamline bursary administration processes and ensure a smoother start to the 2025 academic year.
NSFAS indicated that 50 Servicing Administrators will be deployed to assist TVET colleges. They will be placed at colleges from 13 January to 7 March 2025.
These administrators will rotate between 3 or 4 colleges during this period. In addition, 50 graduate interns will be stationed at each college to provide further support.
We believe this collaborative approach will significantly improve our services to students and ensure they receive the necessary financial support to succeed in their studies.
TVET colleges are encouraged to use these resources effectively to expedite bursary applications and ensure the timely submission of accurate registration data.
NSFAS confirmed it will pay 20% of each TVET College’s tuition allocation for 2025. This translates to a total upfront payment of more than R640 million.
Therefore, a total amount of R641,013,350.00 is to be paid as tuition upfront to TVET colleges by the 10th of January 2025.
The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education called on institutions to submit accurate student registration data to NSFAS to prevent allowance payment delays.
The committee recommended that issues emanating from the 2024 registration period should not continue in 2025. These issues included delays in processing applications for funding, disbursements of allowances, processing of appeals and matters related to private accommodation.
They further called on the Department of Higher Education and Training to expedite the process of standardising allowances for TVET College and university students.
