The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has announced that support teams will be deployed to all 50 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges across South Africa.
NSFAS provides comprehensive bursaries and student loans to deserving learners enrolled in approved courses at universities and TVET colleges. NSFAS funding covers tuition and registration fees, as well as several allowances for food, accommodation, and learning materials.
According to NSFAS, the deployment of staff aims to streamline bursary administration processes and ensure a smoother start to the 2025 academic year.
Fifty Servicing Administrators will be deployed to assist TVET colleges. These administrators will rotate between three or four colleges during their deployment, which will run from 13 January to 7 March 2025. Additionally, 50 graduate interns will be stationed at each college to provide further support.
We believe this collaborative approach will significantly improve our services to students and ensure they receive the necessary financial support to succeed in their studies
TVET colleges are encouraged to make effective use of these resources to expedite bursary applications and ensure the timely submission of accurate registration data.
NSFAS also confirmed that it will pay 20% of each TVET college’s tuition allocation for 2025 upfront, translating to a total payment of more than R640 million. Specifically, a total of R641,013,350.00 is set to be paid to TVET colleges by 10 January 2025.
The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education has called on institutions to submit accurate student registration data to NSFAS to prevent delays in allowance payments.
The committee also urged that challenges from the 2024 registration period not carry over into 2025. These challenges included delays in processing funding applications, disbursing allowances, handling appeals, and addressing issues related to private accommodation. Furthermore, the committee called on the Department of Higher Education and Training to expedite efforts to standardize allowances for students at both TVET colleges and universities.
