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Delays In Registration Causing Issues For 2023 NSFAS Funding

Published

6 months ago

November 19, 2023

NSFAS Minister Blade Nzimande presented the department’s plan for the 2023 academic year to the National Assembly and explained how delays in registration will be handled. To prevent funding issues, the department hopes to resolve all delays as soon as possible.

Delays In Registration Causing Issues For 2023 NSFAS Funding

A plan of action for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for the 2023 academic year was presented to the National Assembly by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande. A budget of around R47.6 billion is projected for the bursary for the year, according to Nzimande.

How much student get NSFAS funding

For the 2023 academic year, NSFAS will provide provisional funding to 1 083 055 students. Government funding of students from underprivileged backgrounds marks an important milestone.

NSFAS students could register for the academic year without making any upfront payments, such as registration fees. The NSFAS students had to wait for their allowance to be provided before they could register for the academic year, which meant they missed valuable learning time. In order to ensure all bursary students could register before classes began, NSFAS made an upfront payment to TVET colleges and public universities this year. In some cases, the registration process was delayed for students.

A meeting with university registrars will take place in the coming weeks in order to resolve these registration delays. All matters will be handled in such a way as not to exclude or disadvantage NSFAS recipients.

In addition to student allowances, NSFAS also provided students with food and accommodation allowances for traveling and learning materials. Prior challenges have been addressed with direct payment platforms and student accommodation platforms.

Students’ well-being was negatively affected by issues with allowances and accommodations. Rather than concentrating on their studies, students worried about how they would pay for learning materials, get food for the month, and where they would stay.

In order to make this year different, NSFAS took steps to ensure it. In order for students to thrive in their degree or course, the department provides them with the resources and support they need.