The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) aims to provide bursaries to students from poor and working-class backgrounds. Without the funding provided by Nsfas, thousands of these students would not be able to obtain tertiary education qualifications due to the cost.
Nsfas implements several internal controls and risk management strategies to ensure that only deserving students qualify and receive funding. The controls are used when students apply for funding.
To qualify for Nsfas, a student must be a South African citizen. Sassa grant recipients will qualify immediately for Nsfas funding.
Non-Sassa grant recipients may have a combined household income not exceeding R350,000 per annum. Individuals living with a disability may have a combined household income not exceeding R350,000 per annum
The scheme determines the financial eligibility of a potential beneficiary using the information provided by the student during the application process. This information is then verified against government databases from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
Nsfas also has academic criteria students must meet to receive funding, namely the N+Rule. The N+2 rule means that students only have N+2 years to finish a degree. “N” refers to the minimum number of years allocated to achieve the qualification.
If a degree can be completed in 4 years, Nsfas will only fund the student for the four years that they can complete the degree. They will also fund students for an additional two years if they need to redo certain subjects or modules.
Earlier this year Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande revealed that thousands of students fraudulently received Nsfas bursaries. This is because the students did not meet the financial eligibility to receive funding by exceeding the household income threshold.
It was revealed that 32,654 students were being funded by Nsfas but had a household income that exceeds R400 000 per annum. At least 7,080 students had a household income exceeding R1 Million per annum while 632 students had a household income that exceeded R2 million per annum. Nzimande said these students will be defunded.
Nzimande also revealed that some student funding was put on hold after receiving Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS) data.
The HEMIS data indicated that more than 25,000 students were found to be eligible for Nsfas funding. 80% of these students have already achieved an undergraduate qualification which would make them ineligible for funding.
However, the academic results received by Nsfas could not confirm that these students have obtained an undergraduate qualification. Their cases will be presented to the Nsfas board for a decision regarding further steps that need to be taken regarding their funding.
