There are calls for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to be decentralised to make it easier to administer and address student concerns.
This emerged during Deputy Minister of Higher Education Yusuf Cassim’s visit to Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in Pretoria.
TUT SRC President-General Banele Ntsele expressed frustration that NSFAS is based in Cape Town while students are spread across the country.
“Realising NSFAS, it will make issues to be addressed quickly as and when they arise. You must not wait because currently, NSFAS is centralised in Cape Town. Our students, there’s no one. When they go to NSFAS financial aid offices and campuses, they don’t get help.
“So NSFAS needs to decentralise powers and give campuses powers to deal with certain issues, such as appeals, and that can be resolved directly by NSFAS financial aid officials who are located on campuses. Realising NSFAS, it will make issues to be addressed quickly as and when they arise,” said Ntsele.
More than 800,000 students benefit from the scheme each year. However, over the years, many students have reported not receiving the funding meant for them.
The Deputy Minister acknowledged discrepancies in the funding system and called for collaborative action.
“I believe that the funding of students should be decentralised as far as is possible,” said Cassim.
The Deputy Minister said all efforts were being made to avoid a funding catastrophe as NSFAS continues to owe institutions across the country billions of rand.
“A number of institutions are at a point where they might not be able to pay salaries because of the outstanding tuition amounts that are owed by NSFAS to the institutions…”
“If the NSFAS deficit is not dealt with, it has horrendous and horrific implications for the system as a whole,” he said.