Annually, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) accepts online funding applications from students who are pursuing their studies in public institutions of higher learning.
To make sure that the correct students receive funding, the government bursary scheme’s online applications system has received significant changes over the years.
In an interview, NSFAS spokesperson, Slumezi Skosana spokesperson, shared that the Scheme has been implementing other measures to verify and authenticate student information through third parties.
Student information is authenticated through the verification of their ID number, name, and surname when creating their myNSFAS account.
Once the student's details have been verified through the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), NSFAS uses it to continue reviewing the online funding application and this process can take up to six weeks (although it may take a bit longer in some cases).
According to the government bursary scheme, should the student’s information be incorrect, they will need to contact the department to make sure that it is rectified.
It is mandatory for NSFAS to conduct these background checks to ensure that the information that the student has submitted is indeed factual.
South African Union of Students spokesperson, Asive Dlanjwa has applauded the use of third-party for checks and fewer cases of corruption being reported.
Although, in the past few years the student union has been critical of the Scheme’s capabilities.
It is for this reason that the Transport & State Capture Portfolio Manager at the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, Rudie Heyneke said the organisation is glad the president signed a proclamation for the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to look into the affairs of NSFAS.
How Much Has NSFAS Lost In Wrongfully Allocated Funds?
In 2018, it was discovered that approximately R5 billion of NSFAS funds were wrongfully allocated to students who did not meet the NSFAS eligibility criteria for the funding.
The issue was caused by a lack of verification of student information, which allowed unqualified students to receive the funds.
This has led to the Special Investigating Unit launching an investigation and subsequent overhaul of the NSFAS system to prevent similar issues in the future.
It highlights the importance of proper verification of student information and ensuring that only eligible students receive financial aid.
