CEO of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), Andile Nongogo, says that the current application process takes too long and becomes confusing for students while they're completing all the steps.
In an effort to make the application process for NSFAS funding easier, the scheme is looking into introducing WhatsApp as a way for students to submit their information.
According to Nongogo, the aim is to make the application form itself much simpler; currently, the form should only take around 10 minutes to complete, but the scheme wants to bring this time down to 5 minutes, says the CEO.
The scheme wants to allow students to pause their applications, if they need to, and seamlessly pick up where they left off when they are ready to continue.
In addition to using WhatsApp for applications and shortening the application process, the bursary scheme also intends on working with the Department of Basic Education and schools, so that students can begin applying before they join tertiary education.
NSFAS also hopes to expand its partnerships and develop ways that students can apply for funding without data or Wifi, says Nongogo, especially as there is not always internet connectivity in rural areas.
This "no-data" application process has been tabled for the future of NSFAS.
NSFAS is often delayed when it comes to confirming whether an applicant has been accepted or rejected to receive funding from the scheme, due to difficulties with processing all the applications that are submitted and releasing the funding data at a late stage.
Ideally, students want to be able to track and view their application through every step, but the delays in processing applications makes this a challenge.
According to the bursary scheme, there are several root causes that contribute to application delays, and students have previously been encouraged to monitor their applications and look out for the various application statuses.
This year was particularly challenging for the tracking of NSFAS applications, said Nongogo, and simply didn't work well.
The CEO elaborated that the tracking was "too broad", saying that students were left confused as to why they were stuck within a stage for a long period of time.
The reason for a student's application staying in a stage for so long was due to the fact that a stage had too many steps to go through, therefore taking longer for the application to move on to the next stage.
Students who have received a notification indicating that they are "provisionally funded" should take that to mean that they are indeed approved, and will receive their funding.
Nongogo says this terminology ("provisionally funded") will be scraped, as it only confuses students. According to the CEO, the terms means that a student has been approved and that NSFAS is just waiting on their registration information from the institution where the student is enrolled at.
Therefore, students who are "provisionally funded" are not stranded; they are indeed funded by the bursary scheme.
NSFAS assists students from financially-disadvantaged backgrounds by helping them access tertiary education through a bursary that funds their higher education expenses. These funds cover their tuition, registration fees, accommodation expenses, living expenses and study materials such as books or a laptop.
