Here’s when NSFAS is ‘determined’ to pay those thousands of outstanding 2023 allowances

Following a crippling string of IT challenges, “improper conduct” by its former CEO and payment delays, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has announced that the bursary scheme is “determined” to make all its outstanding 2023 disbursements by 15 January.

Failing to score any pass marks from students affected as they were preparing for their end-of-year exams, the R50 billion funding system still has to disburse 20 000 living allowances outstanding from 2023.

EWN reported that NSFAS board called an urgent meeting on Sunday, 31 December to thrash out plans to deal with the scheme’s outstanding issues which, apart from student allowances, also include budget adjustment and preparation for the 2024 academic year.

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When will NSFAS pay outstanding student allowances?

According to the under-fire bursary scheme, the outstanding allowances still require input from institutions before these could be paid to the 20 000 affected students.

“The NSFAS is determined to conclude all the outstanding 2023 disbursements by the 15th of January 2024, in consultation with the affected institutions. This will ensure that the 2023 bursary allowances do not affect the returning students for the academic year 2024,” Department of Higher Education spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi was quoted as saying by the publication.

Timeline of NSFAS payment delays and service provider saga

In mid-October last year, NSFAS cancelled its contracts with four service providers that were implicated in wrongdoing with the student bursary scheme’s now-former CEO Andile Nongogo.

These companies were tasked with the scheme’s new direct payment system to provide funded students their monthly living allowances for essentials, such as food, transport and hygiene products.

The termination of these contracts was announced during a media briefing by NSFAS on 18 October.

Nongogo was placed on special leave in August after he was implicated in an Outa investigation of improper conduct  due to a conflict of interest in the appointment of the service providers contracted to distribute the funds to students. 

NSFAS student protests

In July, students were also left out in the cold without their living allowances when service providers failed to distribute funding on time.

Fed-up students embarked on countrywide protests, including a march to Parliament during which they called on Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande to intervene against the new direct banking system implemented by NSFAS. 

 In November, Deputy President Paul Mashatile announced in Parliament that a new NSFAS funding model which would accommodate the “missing middle” is in the pipeline.