The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) Administrator, Mr. Freeman Nomvalo, convened an urgent meeting with the leadership of the South African Technical Vocational Education and Training Student Association (SATVETSA) on the 23rd April 2024. The meeting dealt with students' increased unhappiness with the delays in the payment or non-payment of allowances, as well as the disappearance of allowances in student’s accounts. In this meeting, the students expressed serious concerns about the efficacy of the current mode of disbursing allowances.
NSFAS has devised a payment mechanism to address these ongoing challenges with the assistance of its banker which will be implemented for the payments that are due at the end of May 2024. In terms of the mechanism, NSFAS will distribute allowances directly to student's bank accounts.
All TVET students who do not have bank accounts are encouraged to open bank accounts with banks of their own choice. The scheme will communicate to all NSFAS beneficiaries requesting them to update their details to enable the smooth implementation of this direct payment mechanism.
NSFAS is aware of the persistent challenges experienced by some students on the April allowances which have already been disbursed. The scheme has deployed senior NSFAS officials and servicing administrators to all affected institutions to address these challenges. NSFAS is also attending to the challenges of students who may have not received their allowances so that the new mechanism is not burdened by legacy issues.
NSFAS is equally mindful of challenges experienced by university students, however, this direct payment mechanism will currently be applicable to TVET college students. University students will continue to receive their allowance through their institutions until the end of July 2024.
Students who were paid on the direct payment platform until April should continue to use those funds. The new arrangement is only from May onwards, more communication will be sent on the off-boarding process.
The NSFAS Administrator assures all NSFAS-funded students that the scheme in arriving at any decision, it will put the interest of students first. This will be done by providing equitable access to financial and other resources for eligible students in an efficient, transparent, and professional student-centric manner.
All media inquiries related to this statement can be sent to Media@nsfas.org.za
*The above contact details are to be used for media-related queries only. For any other inquiries contact the NSFAS contact centre at 080 006 7327 or send an email to info@nsfas.org.za
