The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has committed to paying outstanding student accommodation providers or landlords as they are commonly known by next Wednesday.
The scheme was reacting to the growing threats of evictions meted against the students due to non-payments of their accommodation.
Speaking on YOU FM Newshour this evening, NSFAS spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi said that they regret the situation
“The situation is regrettable. However, it arises because of non-compliance with NSFAS regulations or rules or policies that govern student accommodation.
“We have a very simple arrangement where NSFAS funded students must sign an agreement with the landlord, and that agreement must be passed over to NSFAS by the landlord which guarantees that the students stay in that residence.
“What we do as NSFAS is to ensure that we assess that agreement, confirm with the University or TVET College that the student is a recipient of an accommodation or a transport allowance, then we process that application for payment, that’s an agreement given to all landlords across the country,” explained Mnisi.
According to Mnisi, the students’ verification before processing payments delayed the release of funds.
“Last month we issued a statement calling on landlords to comply with the dates that were provided for payments and majority of those who had legitimate claims and submitted timeously were paid.
“I can confirm that many of them who even sent us ‘thank you messages’ that they didn’t know how the process is supposed to be managed now that they know they will do better.
“Those that didn’t do it that time were not paid, and we’re making another provision this month that they must submit their claims by Wednesday, 9th April 2025 so that by Thursday next week, 17 April 2025 their claims are processed and paid,” said Mnisi.
Furthermore, the scheme said that the team it appointed to manage student accommodation on its behalf working alongside assessors visited every accommodation to verify its existence and compliance to the rules.
Once verified, the accommodations were accredited on a scale ranging from grade A-E, depending on the size and the amenities that are there in the accommodation and considering the where the accommodation is located whether in a metro and non-Metropolitan municipality.
Mnisi said that a frequent movement of students from one accommodation to another has also contributed to the delayed payments of their accommodation.
“We have now developed rules that after June every year, there is no movement of students from one residence to the other unless they have applied to NSFAS for that to happen.
Even now whilst there’s still that open period our students are not allowed to move from one accommodation to the other unless again there are compelling reasons.
“That’s how we manage it to ensure that the process of accommodation is uncomplicated,” said Mnisi.
NSFAS has appealed to landlords to be more patient while it resolves the issue.
