Question NW2639 to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation
11 October 2023 - NW2639
Shikwambana, Mr M to ask the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation
What (a) recent steps has he taken to salvage tensions between students and university management in institutions of higher learning over the delayed and nonpayment of National Student Financial Aid Scheme allowances to students, (b) reasons lie behind the defunding of students, (c) is the total number of students who have been defunded since 1 January 2023 and (d) are the reasons that the service provider charges students?
Reply:
(a) NSFAS delegated two teams led by senior officials to visit a sample of 10 universities and 20 TVET Colleges over a ten-day period from 11 September to 22 September with the objective of engaging students and institutions on the challenges they are confronting. NSFAS also established continuous engagements with student leaders in areas where issues persist.
(b) The reasons for withdrawing funding from students are as follows:
- Applications rejected after re-assessment of Financial Eligibility (FE) criteria using new SARS data,
- Applications rejected after updated Academic Eligibility (AE) assessment results, and
- Applications rejected because of exceeding the N+ rule.
(c) The number of students defunded since 01 January 2023 is 28378.
(d) Service providers charge students a fixed monthly fee of R12 for a specific bundle of transactions. Further, additional charges arise because of student transactional behaviour for transactions outside of the bundled transactions for example repeated viewing of balance of funds in the student account or excessive transactions.