Acting Chairperson, Prof. Lourens Van Staden, of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) hosted a media briefing on Monday morning to provide an update regarding the payment of 2024 NSFAS allowances.
Students across South Africa have voiced concerns about delayed NSFAS allowances, highlighting the negative impact on both their studies and daily lives. NSFAS has confirmed that payments are currently being processed.
Van Staden attributed the delays in the 2024 academic year largely to delays in registration details. Institutions that have already submitted registration data can expect payments by Friday, 8 March, at the latest.
Regarding the timeline for payments by institutions, Van Staden stated that the majority of institutions committed to disbursing allowances by the last week of February. Unisa is one of the larger institutions and the NSFAS allowance payments for Unisa students will start in early March. Here is a breakdown of payment dates by institution:
When 2024 NSFAS Allowances Are Paid
Van Staden said that the majority of the institutions committed to paying students by the last week of February. Here's a breakdown of when NSFAS allowances will be paid by institutions:
- CPUT - 29 February
- CUT - 1 March
- DUT - 29 February
- MUT - Currently processing allowances
- NMU - 1 March
- Nwu - 1 March
- Rhodes - 28 February
- SMU - 4 March
- SPU - 26 February
- TUT - 4 March
- UCT - Two payment dates, 17-26 February and 1 March
- UFH - 26 February
- UFS - Allowances are currently being processed
- UJ - 7 March
- UKZN - 8 March
- UL - 26 February
- UMP - 1 March
- UP - 4 March
- Unisa payment of NSFAS allowances will start on 4 March
- Stellenbosch - Two payment dates, 29 February and 5 March
- UWC - Two payment dates, 23 February and 1 March
- Wits - 1 March
- Univen - 26 February
- Unizulu - 1 March
- VUT - Currently in engagement with NSFAS
- WSU - 23 February
For February and March, universities will distribute allowances to students, while TVET Colleges will utilise the direct payment system. From April onwards, the direct payment system will exclusively handle NSFAS allowance payments.
During the interim period, institutions have been requested to serve as channels for distributing February and March allowances.
Allowances will be distributed using the direct payment methods ... the direct payment partners assigned to the respective institutions last year will be utilised for the 2024 academic year.
NSFAS has already made two upfront payments to all institutions, one on 31 January and another on 29 February. Van Staden clarified that these upfront payments do not include tranche payments, which will be disbursed to institutions at the beginning of April.
Universities received R2.8 billion, while TVET Colleges received R580 150. An additional billion rand was allocated to cover three months' worth of NSFAS allowance payments from January to March.
These upfront payments are intended to cover registration fees as well as various NSFAS allowances, including book allowances for half of the academic year's cost, accommodation allowances for one month, and two months' worth of allowances for medical students, who commence their academic year earlier.
The second upfront payment, totaling R2.1 billion, will cover NSFAS allowances, including accommodation, travel, personal care, and living allowances for February, as well as book allowances for the latter half of the year.
