On Friday, 2 September, it was reported that more than 50,000 people, many of whom are tertiary students, had signed a petition urging the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to raise students' monthly allowances.
The petitioning students, at the time, demanded a R2,000 increase in the allowance from its current amount of R1,500 to account for rising prices for necessities such as groceries and toiletries.
In response, the bursary scheme later addressed the matter during a 2023 application information webinar on Friday this past week. Nsfas officials went on to say that they are currently engaging with student leaders as they consider increasing NSFAS allowances.
At the moment we are consulting with the stakeholders, the SRCs and all the other stakeholders to see what can be implemented for next year going forward
The discussion with stakeholders will include determining whether they need to increase the allowances, and the findings will be incorporated into the funding policy for 2023, which will be considered.
Additionally, in order to be more comparable to other application systems used by prospective students, the Nsfas application system has recently undergone some notable changes. With these amendments, it is now possible to pause an application and resume it later without having to start over.
Applications can be submitted online using the myNSFAS website. For mobile applications, a USSD code, and WhatsApp are additional application channels created by Nsfas. On these platforms, applicants are also able to track and cancel their applications.
