Students who applied by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for a NSFAS missing middle loan can finally breathe as the NSFAS Administrator has confirmed when NSFAS funding decisions will be released. This loan scheme is geared towards students who don't qualify for NSFAS but can't afford to pay their fees.
During a briefing, NSFAS Administration, Mr Freeman Nomvalo spoke on matters relating to administrative reform at NSFAS. One of the aspects he addressed was the NSFAS loan scheme saying that they have "done the work that needed to be done".
Nomvalo previously revealed that the scheme received 24 000 NSFAS loan applications for the 2024 academic year. However, it was found that many applicants didn't meet the NSFAS loan requirements or had incomplete applications.
Funding decisions have now been made and will be communicated to students in due course, before the end of August, said the Administrator.
Nomvalo added that NSFAS is currently working to increase its capacity to implement the loan scheme for the foreseeable future.
We are also in the final planning phase for the appointment of specialised capacity to finalise the implementation of the loan scheme for 2024 and beyond.
NSFAS will offer 31 000 missing middle student loans in 2024.
NSFAS Appeals
Along with NSFAS loan funding decisions being delayed for 2024, NSFAS has also had a backlog of NSFAS appeals that needed to be evaluated and responded to. Nomvalo confirmed that around 88 000 NSFAS appeals needed to be dealt with at the beginning of the Administration.
Now, around 4 000 appeals are left which need to be processed.
“What must be appreciated in relation to these aspects, the applications, the appeals process, is just the sheer volume of the numbers that have to be processed and put that alongside the systems that are not reliable so there's quite a bit of work that needs attention there.”
