Question NW28 to the Minister of Higher Education and Training

Reply:

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has provided the following response to the questions posed.

(a) (i) and (ii) Of the 243 853 students for whom allowances are due, 17 147 have not had all or part of their allowance grant paid. The breakdown per institution is shown below:

Institution	Committed	Paid	Variance
Cape Peninsula University of Technology	7 604	6 330	1 274
Central University of Technology	5 224	2 276	2 948
Durban University of Technology	10 421	10 381	40
Mangosuthu University of Technology	6 179	5 832	347
Nelson Mandela University	9 471	8 779	692
North-West University	11 428	11 134	294
Rhodes University	1 065	1 048	17
Sefako Makgatho Health Science University	1 368	970	398
Sol Plaatje University	582	495	87
Tshwane University of Technology	28 537	28 095	442
University of Cape Town	3 204	3 126	78
University of Fort Hare	8 319	7 182	1 137
University of Free State	9 431	8 972	459
University of Johannesburg	18 726	16 424	2 302
University of Kwazulu-Natal	14 077	12 414	1 663
University of Limpopo	13 073	12 374	699
University of Mpumalanga	799	764	35
University of Pretoria	6 626	6 089	537
University of South Africa	24 551	24 102	449
University of Stellenbosch	1 973	1 779	194
University of the Western Cape	5 788	5 672	116
University of the Witwatersrand	6 278	5 645	633
University of Venda	10 426	10 102	324
University of Zululand	12 648	11 551	1 097
Vaal University of Technology	8 164	8 041	123
Walter Sisulu University	17 891	17 164	727
Total	243 853	226 741	17 112

(b) (i) In total, R5.839 billion in allowances was due for payment, of which R5.094 billion has been paid to students. R745 million has not yet been paid. The amount of the grant that has not been received or partially received, per institution, is shown below:

Institution	Committed	Paid	Variance
Cape Peninsula University of Technology	137 432 417	116 484 318	20 948 099
Central University of Technology	157 337 657	48 828 171	108 509 486
Durban University of Technology	241 792 016	234 865 589	6 926 427
Mangosuthu University of Technology	147 049 832	128 170 935	18 878 897
Nelson Mandela University	236 204 938	221 471 372	14 733 566
North-West University	256 567 331	235 145 717	21 421 614
Rhodes University	43 806 171	42 701 655	1 104 516
Sefako Makgatho Health Science University	41 378 310	28 554 446	12 823 864
Sol Plaatje University	25 227 413	21 007 590	4 219 823
Tshwane University of Technology	618 136 559	592 291 068	25 845 491
University of Cape Town	97 237 579	87 058 023	10 179 556
University of Fort Hare	314 839 318	245 148 868	69 690 450
University of Free State	375 375 276	345 504 509	29 870 767
University of Johannesburg	491 118 366	453 468 326	37 650 040
University of Kwazulu-Natal	430 477 076	355 556 200	74 920 876
University of Limpopo	289 567 323	262 659 558	26 907 765
University of Mpumalanga	36 366 365	34 933 912	1 432 453
University of Pretoria	263 981 511	215 125 745	48 855 766
University of South Africa	132 043 165	121 891 229	10 151 936
University of Stellenbosch	79 723 199	63 436 894	16 286 305
University of the Western Cape	116 087 400	106 251 130	9 836 270
University of the Witwatersrand	216 338 395	191 433 151	24 905 244
University of Venda	113 050 968	106 991 531	6 059 437
University of Zululand	357 812 858	252 590 625	105 222 233
Vaal University of Technology	202 833 183	195 706 935	7 126 248
Walter Sisulu University	417 126 467	386 779 143	30 347 324
Total	5 838 911 093	5 094 056 640	744 854 453

(ii) The reason for the variances is due to a combination of the following factors, which are not specific to any particular institution:

• Returning NSFAS students are eligible for continuous funding and are automatically funded by NSFAS for the next academic year/semester, provided they pass their modules and meet the progression requirements of the course and institution. Some universities submitted the academic results late to NSFAS;
• Requests from institutions to do “top up” allowances throughout the academic year. Tuition and allowance payments to institutions and students are initially made based on registration data that is sent by the university to NSFAS at the start of the academic year. However, during the year, universities submit tuition and allowance adjustments after NSFAS has received the original registration files, processed tuition and initial allowance payments. This situation was exacerbated by the increased volume of “top up” allowances processed in 2017;
• Given that 2017 represented the first year that NSFAS systems were integrated with institutional student funding systems, there were challenges experienced with the transfer of registration information. These included instances where the course code information at universities did not match the NSFAS records and where allowance values and tuition values have not been transferred in the required format to NSFAS systems;
• Challenges experienced with ensuring that students signed their Loan Agreement Forms/Statement of Particulars (LAFSOPs). This is partially attributed to the frequency with which students change their cell phone numbers. Efforts to ensure that NSFAS staff have been present and visible at campuses to assist in the signing of these LAFSOPs have been ongoing through the latter half of the year and has made a significant difference to the effectiveness of the LAFSOPs signing process. In addition, in some instances, NSFAS has made paper-based forms available to universities for signature and then reviewed and reconciled by NSFAS prior to payment. From 2018, students will be able to change their cell phone numbers online by accessing the MyNSFAS Portal; and
• In some cases, due to unexpected NSFAS system time-outs, a full funding processing cycle was not completed resulting in incomplete student loans being created in the systems. As a consequence, lengthy manual checks and reconciliations needed to be performed to ensure that correct loan accounts were created and allowances subsequently disbursed.

(c) (i) NSFAS has communicated with students in the following ways in an effort to increase awareness of the importance of students’ signing their loan or bursary agreements:

• Media releases;
• Social media, for instance, Twitter and Facebook; and
• Direct SMS’s and emails sent to students.

(ii) NSFAS is busy with the “close-off” of all 2017 funding and allowance processing to ensure that all eligible funded students receive any allowances that are still due to them. Additionally, there are a number of projects introduced, which have the objective of improving the funding and allowance disbursement process in 2018. All processes will be automated and data exception reporting will be implemented.

(iii) None.