Prior to the start of the 2023 academic year, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) made necessary preparations to make sure that this year starts on a good note.
Department of Higher Education and Training Minister Dr. Blade Nzimande also announced that the Scheme would be making upfront payments to institutions to cover for costs related to registration, tuition fees and living allowances.
Nzimande also shared that NSFAS-funded tertiary institutions will be registering without paying an upfront registration fee.
In a statement, the University of South Africa has stated:
The payment of allowances to all qualifying NSFAS-students and the process of disbursing allowances has now commenced.
According to the university, allowances for returning students, including learning material and incidental allowances will be disbursed from 15 March 2023.
Whilst new students who qualify for incidental allowance disbursement will be paid on 15 March 2023 and learning material allowances for students who did not choose the laptop option will be disbursed from 22 March 2023.
NSFAS has also introduced its new direct payment solution for student allowances, through its new NSFAS Mastercard.
Bursary recipients are provided with a card and a bank account where their monthly allowances will be disbursed to directly.
The Scheme believes that the NSFAS-Mastercard is a big change for students and there are plans in place to equip them with the necessary tools to navigate this new journey with ease.
