THE National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) has confirmed that it's made an estimated R4 billion upfront payment to technical and vocation education and training (TVET) colleges and universities.
This was in a bid to ensure a smooth start to the 2024 academic year. This was prior to the application and registration finalisation period.
For universities, Nsfas said it disbursed R2,8 billion in January while TVET colleges, a total of R580 150 950.00 was paid to colleges as tuition upfront in January.
“[For univertisities] this disbursement doesn't include the calculation of the tranche payments (stipends), which Nsfas will disburse at the beginning of April.
“This upfront payment covers one month of student accommodation and book allowance. The book allowance is calculated at half of the total cost while accommodation is calculated as one month of the accommodation cost.
“For TVET, an additional R1 billion is earmarked for three months’ worth of allowances to be paid based on registration from the January-March period.
“All these upfront payments will enable institutions to register all Nsfas-approved students for the academic year 2024,” the fund said.
The scheme has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, from corruption among members of the board to failure to make payments on time.
Over the weekend, the uMkhonto weSizwe Youth League in Gauteng blasted Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, for failing the students.
This as they marched to the Department of Higher Education in Tshwane on Friday, 16 February. The youth league said many students were unable to enroll because Nsfas hasn't paid outstanding fees since 2023.
ALSO READ: Youth league: Nzimande must GO!
However, this is not the only group. At the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, students embarked on a protest related to student accommodation and fee blocks attributed to Nsfas issues.
With a prepayment made to universities and colleges, it remains to be seen whether student accounts will be sorted, or not.
Meanwhile, the funding scheme has confirmed its decision to terminate the services of the direct payment service providers, Ezaga Holdings, Coinvest Africa, Norraco Corporation and Tenet Technologies, as per the recommendations of the Werksman Attorneys Report.
“In the transitional period, the direct payment service providers continue to disburse allowances to students.
“Universities and TVET colleges will continue their collaboration with the designated direct payment service providers allocated to their respective institutions for the purpose of onboarding and disbursing allowances to students," the fund said.
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