Since the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) application system has become paperless, it has had its hiccups, most of which are usually experienced at the beginning of their application cycle.
When the Nsfas application window for the upcoming 2023 academic year were opened on 28 September 2022, Higher Education Minister Dr. Blade Nzimande announced the new changes to the online application system.
According to Nzimande, the application system has been simplified and developed to be more user friendly for students.
Before applying for funding, students will be required to create a myNsfas account. In an information session, Khaya Ndima, an Acting Senior Manager Operations at Nsfas has explained:
After creating an account, students will need to log in to their myNSFAS account using their ID number and password rather than their email address, as they did in the previous application cycles.
Ndima has also shared that students will be required to choose three security questions out of a range of questions when setting a password.
This follows a number of incidents of students forgetting their passwords, having to reset it, which requires human intervention. According to Nsfas, once this has been implemented, it will help the bursary scheme avoid backlogs.
Nzimande confirmed that this newly improved system has real time responses and allows applicants to pause and continue with their online application at a later stage, without having to start from scratch.
Nsfas has additional channels of application through a mobile app, USSD with similar usability as online platforms that students are accustomed to such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
