The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has confirmed that more than 1.3 million students qualified for NSFAS funding in 2024. However, only about half of these students have been receiving the financial support.
NSFAS provides comprehensive bursaries and student loans to deserving learners enrolled in approved courses a universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. This includes money for tuition and registration fees as well as several allowances for food, accommodation and learning materials.
In a recent presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, NSFAS revealed that nearly 1.4 million students who applied for funding for the 2024 academic year met the eligibility criteria. This meant that the only step remaining was for NSFAS to begin payments once they received the students’ registration data.
However, the government bursary scheme has only funded just under 750,000 students, amounting to a cost of nearly R34 billion.
NSFAS explained that the discrepancy between the number of qualifying students and those funded can be attributed to factors such as duplicate applications, changes in student qualifications, and other academic considerations.
The number of students who qualify for funding has consistently been higher than those confirmed for funding, though there is a slight difference between the number of registrations received and the disbursements made.
NSFAS Appeals
Some students who were deemed ineligible for funding had their 2024 applications rejected by NSFAS. These students are allowed to appeal the decision if they believe it was unjust.
In 2024, NSFAS received 94,469 appeals, 63% of which have been resolved and closed.
NSFAS reported that 58% of the resolved appeals remained rejected (24,027), while 19,236 students were funded, and 33,885 appeals were closed.
There are still 35,226 unresolved appeals, and NSFAS expects to finalise all these applications by the end of the first week of September 2024. To speed up the process, the Administrator has approved overtime for the case workers.
The finalisation of appeals also depends on receiving the necessary results from institutions and any outstanding documents from applicants.
Incorrect NSFAS Funding
NSFAS also reported that in 2024, the scheme mistakenly funded 11,038 students. Nearly 2,000 of these students were enrolled at TVET Colleges, while the remaining 9,112 were university students.
In previous years, incorrect funding has cost NSFAS millions of rands. While efforts have been made to recover these funds, early detection of undeserving students benefiting from NSFAS can save the public purse millions.
