ATC181031: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training on its meetings with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme And Stakeholders, dated 31 October 2018

Higher Education, Science and Innovation

REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING ON ITS MEETINGS WITH THE NATIONAL STUDENT FINANCIAL AID SCHEME AND STAKEHOLDERS, DATED 31 OCTOBER 2018
 

1. Introduction

The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training (hereinafter referred to as the Committee), having met with NSFAS and stakeholders (South African Union of Students, the South African Further Education and Training Students Association, the South African College Principals Organisation and the Department of Higher Education and Training)  on 28 February, 30 May, 16 August and 12 September 2018 regarding the payment of allocations to students at universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges, reports as follows:

1.1. Background

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was established according to the NSFAS Act, 1999 (Act No. 56 of 1999). It is the government’s key institution in the progressive realisation of the constitutional right of access to education by providing financial assistance through bursaries and loans for students coming from poor and working class families to access both higher and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). One of the policy objectives to be fulfilled by NSFAS as set out in the Education White Paper 3: A programme for the Transformation of Higher Education is to contribute to the skills pool necessary to drive economic growth and development of the country. With the government’s policy shift to implement Fee-Free Education Policy from 2018 academic year, NSFAS through its student-centred model provides only bursaries to students coming from poor and working class families with a gross annual income of R350 000.

Pursuant to its oversight mandate, the Committee undertook oversight visits to higher education institutions and TVET colleges at the beginning of the 2018 academic year in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng provinces. The purpose of the oversight visits was to:

• assess the 2018 academic year registration processes;
• assess the preparedness of the institutions in implementing the 2018 academic programmes;
• assess the preparedness of the institutions in implementing the new Fee-Free Education Policy; and
• conduct on-site visits to the infrastructure development projects, student accommodation, training workshops and teaching and learning facilities.

The Committee observed that the 2018 enrolment and registration processes for students went smoothly with minimal disruptions. All governance structures of the institutions welcomed the implementation of the fee-free education policy. Notwithstanding the smooth running of the registration processes, the university and TVET College management raised concerns with regard to the outstanding payments for the 2017 and non-payment of student allowances by NSFAS dating back to 2016. Similar challenges related to delays in the disbursements of student allowances were also reported to the Committee during the oversight visit conducted in 2017, at the University of Venda, University of Limpopo and Sekhukhune, Capricorn and Waterberg TVET Colleges.

Prior the establishment of the student-centred model, NSFAS relied on universities’ Financial Aid Offices (FAOs) and TVET colleges Student Support Services (SSS) to manage the students’ application process and the disbursement of allowances due to students. The introduction of the student-centred model was aimed at improving some of the inefficiencies in the old system, which was also prone to fraud, with disparate rules being applied for the allocation of loans and bursaries at different universities and TVET colleges.

There were instabilities at some universities and TVET Colleges which were mainly caused by the late pay-outs of these allowances which contributed to student hunger and suffering, eviction from private accommodation and dropping-out of the system. Some universities and TVET colleges reported that though NSFAS paid upfront allocations to institutions, this was not accompanied by the lists of approved students and remittance advices. This made it difficult for institutions that disburse allowances using their own FAOs and third parties, to disburse allowances. Compounding the situation was the systemic challenges at NSFAS and inadequate capacity to administer the allocations due to the institutions and students not signing loan agreement forms or schedule of particulars.

Disruptions of teaching and learning at these institutions and incidents of damage to property were of a serious concern to the Committee. As a result, the Committee resolved to engage with NSFAS and the Department to closely monitor the progress with the clearance of the payment backlogs to institutions to restore stability in the sector. The Committee held meetings with NSFAS and the Department as follows: 28 February 2018: to receive an update on the implementation of fee-free education policy and payment of upfront allowances to institutions and 30 May 2018 stakeholder meeting (Universities South Africa, the South African Union of Students, the South African Further Education and Training Students Association, the South African College Principals Organisation and the Department of Higher Education and Training) on update with payment of upfront allocations, and progress made in addressing challenges with regard to disbursement of allowances due to students.

The Committee was dissatisfied with the progress made by NSFAS with the roll-out of the student-centred model and the clearance of the allocations backlog subsequent to the two meetings. The Committee resolved to undertake its own independent inquiry to determine the sources of the challenges experienced by universities and TVET colleges with the payment of upfront allocations to institutions, disbursements of allowances to students and funding for students living with disabilities in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 academic years. The Committee forwarded survey questionnaires to all the 50 TVET colleges and 26 universities. The responses for both questionnaires were analysed and the findings and recommendations were presented at the meeting with stakeholders on 16 August 2018.

1.2. Purpose of the Report

The purpose of this report is to account for the assessment of the presentations from NSFAS and other stakeholders in the university and TVET sectors with respect to the disbursement of NSFAS allowances. The report also contains the Committee’s observations and recommendations to the Minister of Higher Education and Training.

 

 

 

2. Summary of the presentations

2.1 Committee’s analysis of upfront payments to universities and TVET colleges

The Chairperson, Ms C September, made the presentation on behalf of the Committee. She informed the meeting that the Committee’s enquiry was aimed at identifying the source of the discontentment pertaining to the allocation of funding and disbursements of allowances due to students at universities and TVET colleges. The Committee administered survey questionnaires to all the universities and TVET colleges. The survey questionnaire relating to upfront payments to institutions and disbursement of allowances to students was intended to collect data about the total of upfront allocation paid per institution, date of the payment by NSFAS, date of disbursements of allowances due to students, challenges with disbursements, the integration of Information Communicating Technology (ICT) system between NSFAS and the institutions and related challenges, resources availed by institutions to ease the applications challenges and the signing of LAF/SOPs, proposals for improvements and plans put in place to ease the process for the 2019 academic year. In terms of the response rate, 20 universities and 26 TVET Colleges completed the questionnaire.

The survey questionnaire on funding for students living with disabilities focused on whether the institutions receive special funding for students living with disabilities, total allocations received, payment date from NSFAS, disbursement processes, challenges and proposed improvements. In terms of the response rate, 14 universities and 15 TVET Colleges completed the questionnaire. 

The allocation of upfront payments to universities and TVET Colleges for the 2016, 2017 and 2018 academic years:  Universities received upfront payments in January of each academic years. All TVET colleges received their upfront payments in January in 2016. For the 2017 academic year, 26.9 percent of the college respondents received their upfront allocation in January and 71.1 of the respondents received payments in April. For the 2018 academic year, all colleges were paid upfront payment from January. The Chairperson indicated that USAf submitted a list of universities that were still owed outstanding allocations for the 2017 academic year.

 

Challenges experienced by universities and TVET colleges with the disbursements of allowances due to students:

Universities reported the following: funding decisions not finalised by NSFAS impacted negatively on student academic performance; disbursements reports and remittance advices (indicating what was allocated to students) were not received simultaneously and this posed a challenge for institutions in terms of reconciliation and disbursements to student accounts; late confirmation of students resulted in institutions having to carry the student allowances from own funds until confirmations were received; a number of students remained unconfirmed and the risk remained that NSFAS might not confirm those students and institutions would remain with debt; there was no quality control mechanism built into the NSFAS approval model.

Universities found instances where students were approved for funding, but they did not meet the academic requirement in terms of the 50 percent pass of modules or they had exceeded the N+2 rule; channel 2 application forms were still not approved and students struggled to get food and accommodation; due to the 2017-cycle not finalised, many eligible and funded 2017-students only received their funding in 2018 and NSFAS was not able to migrate them to their 2018 funding cycle; and there was lack of communication and no scheduled timelines, resulting in unrealistic due dates for data requests and the integration of data was managed by back and forth uploading of files.

TVET colleges reported challenges with regard to late disbursements of allowances through the NSFAS s-Bux system, delayed application outcomes from NSFAS, which resulted in some colleges taking on registration risks and applying own funds; missing bursary applications that NSFAS could not retrieve from its system; delays in the release of examination results by the DHET which delayed funding decisions; delays by students in signing the LAF/SOPs and insufficient allocation to cater for all eligible students.

ICT system integration challenges experienced by universities and TVET colleges: 80 percent of the universities reported to have their ICT systems integrated with NSFAS system. However, 93.75 percent of these universities reported to have experienced serious challenges with the integration and were submitting data through the manual myNSFAS portal. They reported to have received incorrect data through the integrated system; there was no automated acknowledgement of data received by NSFAS; inability of NSFAS to process the uploaded data; data discrepancies on the students portal and the myNSFAS portal and incorrect system specifications to determine eligibility.

24 (92.3%) of the colleges reported to have system integration with the majority using the COLTECH system. They reported that allowance claims processed through the system did not appear on the NSFAS system and this resulted in late payment; slow migration of data on COLTECH system resulted in returning not paid and students changing their cellphone numbers.

Resources availed by universities and TVET Colleges: institutions availed Financial Aid Office and Student Support Services staff, SRCs, student volunteers, IT Technicians to assist students with applications and filling of LAF/SOPs; computer labs, internet connected computers, WI-FI, printers and scanners were availed also to ease the application process.

Proposed improvements to the student-centred model by universities and TVET colleges: Institutions proposed that there should be a quicker response from NSFAS technical staff; disbursement reports remittance advices should be received simultaneously for the purpose of institutional reconciliation and allocations to students; full payment for each claim submitted; NSFAS to address the challenge of inaccurate information sent to institutions; quality control mechanisms should be built into the NSFAS approval model; NSFAS ICT integration challenges should be addressed and ICT support be improved; the DHET/NSFAS Interim Plan to be carried forward for all bursary processes, as well as for the closing off of 2017; NSFAS and DHET to clarify the role of the colleges in the Student-Centred Model in order for NSFAS to meet the commitment to students, and the DHET to address the delays in the release of TVET exam results for returning students.

Plans put in place by institutions to ensure smooth processes for the 2019 academic year: Universities and colleges would identify returning students who meet the criteria for continued funding and allow them to register; regular engagements with NSFAS regarding the 2019 applications in order to put resources in place; Financial Aid Offices and Student Support Services, volunteers, IT technicians will be availed to assist students with applications; Finance Committees will meet regularly to identify areas of challenges and try to mitigate them in order to minimise anxiety; registration templates will be submitted to NSFAS immediately after registration is closed, and organising of training workshop with SRCs and Financial Aid Committee should be arranged to prepare for 2019.

Funding for students living with disabilities: all universities reported that they received special funding from NSFAS to cater for students living with disabilities. However, they noted challenges with regard to delays in the payment of allocations from NSFAS, which impact adversely on students as they depend on assistive devices for studying; outstanding allocations for the 2017 academic year; allowances not paid in accordance with registration templates provided to NSFAS; incorrect capping of students living with disabilities; the student intake for the 2018 academic year were not yet confirmed at some universities and there was no proper processes at NSFAS to deal with funding for students living with disabilities.

The majority of the TVET Colleges did not receive special funding from NSFAS for students with disabilities. Nkangala and Vhembe TVE Colleges were the only two colleges that received funding in April 2018. Both of these colleges raised challenges with regard to the delays in the payment of the allocation which made it difficult for the colleges to cater for the academic needs of the students. Some of the challenges included lack of guidelines form the DHET and NSFAS on funding for students living with disabilities; lack of training of Student Support Services staff at college level and non-disclosure to students during registration.

Proposed improvements: universities proposed that there should be proper policy guidelines for funding students living with disabilities; NSFAS system should be redesigned to identify students living with disabilities so they could be flagged for express processing; dedicated and knowledgeable staff be allocated at NSFAS to administer Disability Funding; funding should be finalised during the first academic month of each year; correct funding and top-ups need to be done from the registration templates when students apply. TVET colleges proposed that there should be clear policy guidelines for funding students living with disabilities and a special budget should be made available to cater for college students for assistive devices, allowances and infrastructure.

 

 

2.2 South African Union of Students

SAUS was represented by its newly elected President, Mr M Mugabe. In his introductory remarks, Mr Mugabe said that the student-centred model was introduced in 2016 as a new process of administering bursaries and loans due to students. The students welcomed the student-centred model with mixed reaction because some believed that it would help to address challenges with the old model, however, it was eventually perceived as a failed model with lots problems.

Mr Mugabe alluded to the challenges that were experienced with the student-centred model which included: centralisation of the disbursement of funds to students by NSFAS; communication gaps between NSFAS and the institutions; massive rejection of deserving students; inadequate appeals process; unprecedented delays in the payment of student allowances; inadequate payment of student allowances through the s-Bux system; limited options for purchases and dealers; exclusion of postgraduate students and non-payment of historic debts.

Mr Mugabe made the following proposals for improvements to handle the NSFAS crisis, namely: introduction of a new operating model that is aligned to systems of universities; decentralisation of the NSFAS system to improve the processing of funds; convening of stakeholders engagements with all SRCs; implementation of the debt relief model to clear student’s historic debt; inclusion of postgraduates in the funding provisions; mobilisation of the private sector to supplement government’s intervention and funding dates to be aligned to registration dates.

2.3 South African Further Education and Training Students Association

The presentation from SAFETSA was made by Mr Y Twani: President. Mr Twani’s presentation focused mainly on responding to some of the questions that were forwarded by the Committee through its correspondence with SAFETSA. Mr Twani indicated that SAFETSA was struggling to continuously meet with more relevant stakeholders in the higher education and training space because of the unavailability of resources. Nevertheless, SAFETSA remained committed to improving stakeholder engagements in the PSET system through its various interactions with the DHET and NSFAS. Mr Twani raised a concern about the visibility of NSFAS at TVET colleges and its head office being based in Cape Town only.

Mr Twani highlighted SAFETSA’s commitment to making sure that students received their allowances timeously. Moreover, the marketing and communications desk of SAFETSA was working towards ensuring that the organisation was accessible to students through social media platforms and its relationship with the SRCs of all TVET colleges. However, SAFETSA did not have sufficient resources to closely monitor the process of applications and the signing of LAF/SOPs by students. In this regard, SAFETSA recommended that the SRCs be trained to work with the student-centred model and that the Department provide further support to TVET colleges in the roll-out of the model.

Mr Twani was of the view that the communication between NSFAS and TVET colleges showed no improvement in the 2018 academic year. Furthermore, students were not satisfied with the client service from the NSFAS Call Centre, and the decentralisation of NSFAS would assist in improving the communication between the two parties.

Mr Twani called on NSFAS to assist in having joint-road shows to meet with students and SRCs in preparation for the 2019 academic year and to make sure that students understood the mandate of NSFAS. Moreover, SAFETSA would visit a few rural high schools in partnership with NSFAS and TVET colleges to engage Grade 12 learners on the process of application. In conclusion, SAFETSA proposed a review of the funding norms and standards for TVET college funding given the underfunding that has been crippling the TVET sector.

2.5 South African College Principals Organisation

SACPO was represented by its General-Secretary, Mr S Zungu and its Deputy President, Ms S Mlotshwa. In his presentation, Mr Zungu expressed a concern pertaining to the payment of upfront payments by NSFAS to TVET colleges for the 2018 academic year. Mr Zungu said that the upfront payments did not assist the colleges since there was no disbursement list provided to the institutions by NSFAS on who should be funded. Further, there had been an agreement between NSFAS and the Department that NSFAS would handle the disbursement of all student allowances through the sBux system and not colleges. Consequently, colleges were not in a position to disburse funds to students without proper documentation indicating those who qualify. The upfront payments to colleges was similar to fiscal dumping.

He indicated that SACPO engaged with the Department as part of its scheduled meetings and would engage with SAFETSA in the near future. On disbursement of allowances, most colleges that received disbursement lists of qualifying students had already disbursed allowances. However, some colleges were limited to disbursing private accommodation allowances only and the other allowances were disbursed through the sBux system.

Ms Zungu highlighted that colleges were busy working on improving data capturing and submissions to the Department and NSFAS. However, communication between the colleges and NSFAS was still a challenge since NSFAS communicated directly with students. In this regard, SACPO proposed that NSFAS communication with students be shared with college management.

In relation to the payment of outstanding 2017 allocations, not all students received their 2017 allocations and the process has been very slow. Moreover, the college’s ICT infrastructure did not have the capacity to handle the added NSFAS functions of disbursing student allowances and there should be an ICT infrastructure recapitalisation earmarked funding.

SACPO made the following recommendations going forward: NSFAS bursary applications processes should be linked  up with colleges; need for clearly defined roles and responsibilities between the Department, NSFAS and colleges; improved communication between NSFAS and colleges; investment on improving data management systems; finalisation of the college organisational structures and improvement of funding norms for colleges.

2.6 Universities South Africa

The CEO of USAf, Prof A Bawa sent an apology and could not attend the meeting on behalf of USAf, however, he sent a written submission to respond to the questions from the Committee. In relation to finding solutions to the challenges in higher education, USAf indicated that it had maintained a good working relationship with both the Department and NSFAS, and a team of financial experts from the universities were relocated at the behest of the Department to be based at NSFAS to try and find solutions to issues that needed the straddling of university-NSFAS interfaces.

In relation to the contributions of the higher education sector to ensure student allowances are disbursed timeously, Universities acted swiftly in ensuring that student allowances were disbursed timeously, and universities did not have interest in withholding students’ living allowances. However, this process was impacted by the following: inefficiencies in the sBux system; delays by NSFAS in providing the list of who should be funded and inadequate capacity at universities to deal with administration of NSFAS funding due to introduction of the student-centred model.

In relation to the proposed quality control measures to be built into the NSFAS model to ensure that approved eligible students are funded, USAf was of the view that this was dependent on the ability of the NSFAS IT system to integrate with the university IT system. Moreover, the communication channels between NSFAS and the universities remained open; however, the difficulty was that crisis points were reached only when it was too late.

In relation to the progress made with the payment of outstanding allowances/allocations by NSFAS, USAf did not have a report from NSFAS on progress made in this regard. On the institution’s turn-around time to submit data to NSFAS, universities submitted data instantly when there are no challenges. In relation to the preparedness for the 2019 academic year, universities were not anticipating delays with the commencement of the 2019 academic year and most of the challenges were with NSFAS.

2.7 National Student Financial Aid Scheme

Mr S Zwane made the presentation on behalf of the management. The presentation of NSFAS responded to the questions that were put forward by the Committee to the entity. The presentation highlighted the following: With regard to implementing the recommendations of the Committee and the Ministerial directive, NSFAS worked with the Department’s support team to facilitate the processing of applications and payments to institutions and students. NSFAS has set a team to work on exceptions to address the issues that caused funding delays and the institution was also in the process of drafting a memorandum of understanding (MoUs) to formalise engagements and service level agreements (SLAs) with institutions.

In relation to the steps management implemented to hold staff accountable, NSFAS established the performance management and disciplinary policies to assist management in dealing with accountability and consequence management. There were two employees undergoing disciplinary enquiries.

On whether management misled Parliament in relation to the payment of allocations to institutions, NSFAS re-affirmed its statement made at the meeting on 30 May 2018 that institutions were paid 30 percent upfront allocations and the Committee was not misled.  In relation to funding students who did not qualify, NSFAS was alerted by universities to the fact that in 2018 there were some students who received funding but did not qualify, and the matter was escalated to the ICT expert team for investigation and resolution. On delays in the issuance of remittance advices to institutions, NSFAS acknowledged that there were delays in the creation of accounts in 2018 and from June 2018, NSFAS had started to issue institutions with remittances for disbursements that were processed on the system.

With regard to the plans to ensure successful disbursement of funds to students in 2019, NSFAS continued with the necessary preparatory plans despite the Minister’s directive for the suspension of the 2019 applications process. In improving the entity’s capacity and ICT systems, the NSFAS ICT department was undertaking work to effect improvements to address the 2018 situation and prepare for 2019. Some of the risks that NSFAS faced with regard to the roll-out of the student-centred model included: lack of binding agreements between NSFAS and the PSET sector; lack of an adequate skills-set required to optimally support NSFAS processes in the model; lack of process maturity and misalignment to the model and system capacity.

Prof N Garrod: Interim Chairperson made the presentation on the board’s response to the questions of the Committee, which highlighted the following: In relation to the boards’ oversight role, the board formed a sub-committee to work alongside the DHET support team and management, and also identified the extent to which manual interventions were used within the systems. Moreover, the leadership gaps meant that the board was drawn more into operational issues, resulting in calling for an Administrator to take over the governance and management of NSFAS.

In relation to the steps taken to hold management to account: the weekly reports were submitted to the sub-committee; job description review was in progress under external experts and policy updates on job evaluation were under way. On the work done by the board in putting systems in place to ensure readiness towards 2019 academic year: a roadmap for the 2019 application cycle was presented to the board on 30 July 2018 and discussions were ongoing for the secondment of a qualified individual to fill the vacant chief operations officer (COO) position to ensure short-term 2018 fixes were embedded in the 2019 system. In relation to gaps in the NSFAS Act, there was a need for changes to the references to loans and the title of the executive officer in the principal Act.

2.8 Department of Higher Education and Training

Dr D Parker: DDG for University Education made the presentation on behalf of the Department. In her presentation she began by outlining the interventions made by the Department which included: the Minister wrote to the board of NSFAS giving them a directive to urgently finalise the integration of data between NSFAS and institutions as a result of delays in confirming funding decision for some students; there were intensive engagement between NSFAS and the Department and USAf; Department assisted and sent in a development support team consisting of financial experts from the TVET and university sectors; THE Minister meeting with the board on 4 June 2018 and giving clear directives and other related interventions.

Dr Parker said that the board’s progress report was submitted to the Department on 3 August 2018 and it showed that there had not been adequate improvements since the Department’s support team left NSFAS at the end of June 2018. Moreover, the Chairperson and two members of the board resigned In the first week of August 2018. The Minister called an emergency board meeting on 10 August 2018 to discuss the board’s response and way forward. After the discussions, the board requested the Minister to place NSFAS under administration.

In relation to the student funding policy, Dr Parker indicated that work had started on the development of a new student funding policy for students at universities and TVET colleges, and the draft national policy would be consulted with the relevant stakeholders. The final draft would be released for public comment and stakeholder engagement by 30 October 2018. On standardisation of food allowances at universities, the standard allowances for first-time entry students (FTENs) had been approved for implementation in the 2018 academic and R13 500 per annum was the standard meal allowance for FTENs in 2018. In relation to student debt at universities, all returning NSFAS qualifying students with university debt had been allowed to register in 2018, provided that they signed an acknowledgement of debt form.

 

 

3. Committee observations

The following formed part of the key observations:

3.1.   The Committee reiterated its support to the Minister on her decision to appoint an Administrator to take over the governance and management at NSFAS given the little improvements in resolving the disbursement backlogs. Moreover, the Committee has been interacting with NSFAS in trying the resolve the problem with the payment of allowances due to students.

3.2.    The Committee expressed a serious concern about the allocation of upfront payments by NSFAS to universities and TVET colleges without sending the list of students who qualify for funding. This resulted in delays with the processing of students’ living allowances and consequently, disruptions to teaching and learning by protesting students.

3.3.      The Committee commended the work done through the Office of the Chairperson and the support staff to conduct an independent inquiry into the payment of allowances to universities and TVET colleges. This exercise assisted the Committee to make its own analysis about the extent of the challenges faced by students regarding the disbursement of allowances.

3.4.     The Committee supported the proposals by students for the utilisation of municipal offices, as information centres for NSFAS applications, especially in the rural areas. Furthermore, the Committee supported the student’s call for NSFAS to finalise funding decisions before students commence with the new academic year.

3.5.     The Committee indicated that it was not in a position to support the student’s proposal for all student activists who were arrested during the fees-must-fall protests to be granted amnesty by the President. The Committee indicated that it would not encroach on the matters that were before the courts.

3.6.     The Committee expressed a concern about the inadequate integration of the NSFAS ICT systems with that of universities and TVET colleges. In addition, the inability of the NSFAS ICT system to cope with the volumes of applications from students was also noted as a concern. The Committee was of the view that NSFAS should have undertaken an assessment of its business systems to determine its capabilities.

3.7.    The payment of allowances by NSFAS to ineligible students was noted as a serious concern. The Committee indicated that such irregularities were not accepted and an investigation should be undertaken to determine the extent of this problem.

3.8.    The Committee expressed a concern that NSFAS used a 40 percent pass rate, which differed from the universities minimum of 50 percent pass rate.

3.9.   The Committee expressed a concern with regard to the absence of a memorandum of understanding between NSFAS and institutions that seeks to formalize the responsibilities and duties of each party in the disbursement of allowances. The absence of clearly defined roles between the role players contributed to the blame shift between NSFAS and institutions.

3.10.   The Committee indicated that the presentation by NSFAS on the applications update was complicated and difficult to comprehend. Moreover, the presentation did not provide the details about the extent of the problem with the processing of the 2018 applications.

3.11.    The Committee expressed its reservations regarding the readiness of NSFAS to implement fee-free higher education for students coming from poor and working class families. Also, the delays in the clearance of the 2017 and 2018 payments backlogs compounded the situation at NSFAS.

3.12.  The poor communication between NSFAS and stakeholders was noted as a serious concern. Compounding the situation was the poor clientele service of the NSFAS call centre to handle student queries, and students incurred costs for making calls.

3.13.   The Committee was of the view that the inefficiencies at NSFAS were not as a result of the announcement on fee-free higher education policy. However, there was a 2016 study undertaken on NSFAS which revealed the shortcomings of the entity in the disbursement of funding to students.

3.14.   The Committee expressed a concern pertaining to the continuous changes of the DHET TVET college bursary rules and guidelines, including the late communication to TVET colleges regarding the changes.

4. Summary

The Committee has, through its several engagements with NSFAS raised serious concerns about the failure of the entity to effectively process the payments of allocations and allowances to students at universities and TVET colleges timeously. The Committee also received numerous complaints about the delays in the payment of allowances from students at institutions of higher learning and TVET colleges during its oversight visits at the beginning of the 2018 academic. The Committee undertook to closely monitor the progress by NSFAS in clearing the blockages as its relates to the outstanding allocations and allowances due to students.

 

The Committee invited NSFAS on 28 February 2018 and 30 May 2018 respectively to present updates on the payment of allocations. From these two meetings, the Committee was not satisfied with the progress made by NSFAS in clearing the allocations backlogs. This prompted the Committee to undertake its own independent inquiry to the extent of the challenges with the payment of allocation and student living allowances at universities and TVET colleges. The responses from the institutions revealed a number of inefficiencies with the roll-out of the student-centred model, and consequently, the Committee invited NSFAS and stakeholders to another meeting on 16 August 2018 on the similar issue.

 

The Committee was not satisfied about the plan presented by NSFAS at the meeting on 16 August 2018 to effectively close out the 2017 and 2018 funding cycles, including the roadmap to the 2019 academic year. The Committee supported the intervention by the Minister to appoint an Administrator who would take over the governance and management of the entity. The Committee was of the view that numerous engagements had already been undertaken on the similar issues with NSFAS and there had been unfortunately little improvements to show. Moreover, the ongoing disruptions at universities and TVET colleges were mostly related to complaints regarding the payment of allowances to students. The Committee reiterated that teaching and learning should be prioritised and students should receive what is due to them without further delays.

 

The Committee commended the stakeholders for their willingness to work with NSFAS in resolving the allocation backlogs. In addition, the proposals from the stakeholders on the way forward to deal with the challenges of NSFAS were appreciated by the Committee, and it also undertook to have further engagements on their proposals. The Committee also undertook to engage with the Administrator and his/her team to get an update on the way forward to address the challenges at NSFAS.

 

5. Recommendations

The Committee recommends that the Minister of Higher Education and Training consider the following:

5.1. Department of Higher Education and Training

5.1.1.    The Department with NSFAS should develop policy guidelines for the administration of bursaries for students living with disabilities.

5.1.2.    The Department working with SACPO should ensure that Student Support Services staff at TVET Colleges are capacitated to support students living with disabilities.

5.1.3.    DHET working with SACPO should ensure that the application forms for admission at TVET College have a provision for students to disclose the form of disabilities so that services can be put in place at College level to cater for their needs.

5.1.4.    Career guidance and open days’ programmes by DHET and institutions targeted at Matric learners should also include information on funding opportunities for students living with disabilities.

5.1.5.    The DHET should ensure that examination results in the TVET sector are released timeously to allow colleges to submit registration data of returning students to NSFAS to make funding decisions.

5.1.6.    The Department should ensure that regulations are published to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the institutions and NSFAS in the roll-out of the student-centred model.

5.1.7.    The Department should additional funding to the TVET to improve on their ICT system for better integration with NSFAS ICT system.

5.2.       SAUS and SAFETSA

 

5.2.1.    SAFETSA working with all TVET College SRCs should also help with advocacy programmes to help students living with disabilities to disclose.

1. SRCs should organise roadshows at the beginning of each year to sensitize students on the importance of signing LAF/SOPs in order to fast track the process of disbursements of funds.

 

1. NSFAS

5.3.1.    NSFAS should address the delays in the processing of funding applications for student living with disabilities and ensuring that assistive devices are purchased timeously.

1. NSFAS should improve its communication with institutions and students. Feedback to both should be given timeously.
2. NSFAS and DHET should clarify the role of Student Support Services/ Financial Aid Offices at institutions in relation to the Student-Centred Model.
3. NSFAS should address its IT challenges which hinder the timeous processing of funding applications and exchange of information with institutions.
4. NSFAS should ensure internal controls are built into the system to ensure data credibility and that only eligible students who meet both financial and academic requirements are funded.
5. NSFAS should ensure that outstanding financial claims to universities and Colleges for the 2017 academic are paid.
6. NSFAS improve its capacity both human and IT to handle the processing of new applications.
7. NSFAS to finalise confirmations of all students for funding for 2018 academic year and expedite the sending of remittance advices to universities and Colleges.
8. NSFAS Management develops and implements a project plan with time frames to address the current backlog and the plan should be submitted to the Committee for monitoring.
9. NSFAS to improve its s-Bux system to ensure that allowances are paid to students who are currently facing hunger and evictions from private accommodation providers.
10. The preparations for the 2019 funding cycle should be undertaken with due diligence in anticipation of the increased number of students qualifying for financial aid as per the government pronouncement of fee-free higher education for students coming from poor and working class families.
11. The Administrator should be provided with the requisite support from both the NSFAS employees and the institutions in addressing the systemic challenges at NSFAS.

Report to be considered.