The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) provides comprehensive bursaries to students enrolled in approved programmes at Universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges around South Africa.
In 2023, NSFAS announced that they would be funding more than one million students. These students were judged to have met all the eligibility criteria set by NSFAS as conditions for funding.
NSFAS bursaries are highly sought after. Students who are approved for a NSFAS bursary receive money for tuition and registration fees. In addition to this, they also relieve several allowances to cover costs associated with their studies like accommodation, transport, food and stationery.
It's important to note that NSFAS bursaries are only meant to assist students from poor and working-class backgrounds. They therefore have a household income threshold to ensure this.
While NSFAS funded more than one million students in 2023, thousands of students who applied for funding were rejected from receiving the NSFAS bursary. Students who felt NSFAS were incorrect to reject their bursary application could submit a NSFAS appeal.
NSFAS received 192,900 appeals for the 2023 academic year, 107,070 applications were withdrawn and 6123 are not yet finalised. It was relieved that NSFAS is still awaiting documents from the appeal applicants to provide proof that they are deserving of funding.
Dangers Of Unresolved NSFAS Appeals
Stakeholders in the higher education sector say that given the challenges in processing the appeals that resulted in 2023 appeals not being finalised.
When students are defunded by NSFAS it can be extremely stressful. This is because they no longer receive allowances for food, stationery and accommodation. This puts them at risk of homelessness if they are evicted from their residences and hungry.
The bigger concern is their unpaid fees as being defunded by NSFAS will leave a student responsible for their tuition and registration fees.
In 2023, NSFAS defunded 45,000 students for being ineligible for funding. However, they were later forced to reinstate funding for 14,703 students.
The higher education department explained that discrepancies arose from outdated data from SARS and NSFAS processes. After investigation, 14,703 students were reinstated, while 31,225 had unfunded status, with an opportunity to appeal.
The discrepancies were caused by the outdated data received from SARS and NSFAS verification processes and financial eligibility assessments.
The discrepancies arose from outdated data from SARS and NSFAS processes. After investigation, 14,703 students were reinstated, while 31,225 had unfunded status, with an opportunity to appeal. NSFAS implemented system enhancements and abandoned manual processes to prevent future issues.
It was advised that NSFAS find a better strategy to deal with the appeals. A strategy that will enable the processing and consideration of appeals as they receive them.
Due to a funding shortfall, NSFAS might not be able to fund students whose appeals were successful in 2023. They warned students that appeals were subject to budget availability.
This means that students may have lost funding through no fault of their own.
2024 NSFAS Applications
In November 2023, NSFAS applications for funding for the 2024 academic year opened. The application window will remain open until 31 January 2024.
