Fee-free Higher Education is floundering as more than 120 000 students are affected by NSFAS failures
14 June 2018
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has revealed in a reply to a DA Parliamentary Question that at least 121 974 students have been affected by a delay in the payment of allowances. This is a much higher number than we initially thought and is cause for serious concern. Of this number, 83% are university students, while 17% are Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students.
And not only that - they have conceded that there are many more in the pipeline, still to be processed and paid, but they are unsure how many more. The much vaunted fee-free higher education system is failing tens of thousands of young people.
Only 17% of the known payout delays have been as a result of students not signing their agreement forms, while 83% were due to alleged “technical problems” in matching registration data for students.
NSFAS has been reluctant to take responsibility for depriving these students of accommodation, food and other necessities. The DA has therefore called for the immediate establishment of an emergency student allowance fund by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Naledi Pandor, to ensure that this problem of delayed payments is brought to an end.