National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) Chairperson, Ernest Khosa, says the scheme expects to make upfront payments of approximately R3.5b to universities and R2.7b to Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges.

Khosa was speaking about NSFAS’ state of readiness for the 2023 academic year. He said government has allocated R47.6b for student funding, and this includes R38.6b for universities and R8.9b for TVETs.

“The respective funding is received in four tranche payments in the months of April, June, August and October annually.  This means that all qualifying students, who have been enrolled at a higher education institution, will be funded.

“Furthermore, NSFAS is able to provide upfront payments to institutions, to allow for the payment of allowances and minimise the financial impact on institutions due to the fact that NSFAS beneficiaries are not required to pay registration,” Khosa said.

The numbers according to Khosa:

• 1 587 968 applications were received,
• 613 909 applications have been provisionally funded: 338 320 are continuing students and 275 589 are new applicants.
• 210 679 applications are on assessment of financial eligibility, a process where funding is verified against the government R350 000 threshold.
• Around 149 202 are awaiting academic eligibility.
• 273 746 applications are awaiting evaluation.
• 98 805 applications have been withdrawn. These include withdrawals by students.
• 161 139 applications have been rejected because they do not meet the funding criteria.
• 1 261 appeals have already been submitted.

While immediate funding decisions have been made for qualifying South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) students, Khosa emphasised that non-SASSA students must provide documentation to prove their household income. – SAnews.gov.za