‘No accurate checks and balances system’ – Time for Nsfas to be scrapped?

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) should have been scrapped years ago, says a former student leader who was part of the #FeesMustFall movement.

Busisiwe Seabe, who is now a researcher at the Gauteng provincial legislature, said the movement wanted Nsfas scrapped because it did not have the capacity to do due diligence in verify applicants’ information.

Funding model over Nsfas?

It came as no surprise that Nsfas was found to have fraudulently funded 40 000 students who did not qualify for funding.

This had led to excluding many poor students who did qualify for funding, she said.

“It [Nsfas] does not have an accurate checks and balances system for it to verify information,” Seabe said.

During the #FeesMustFall protests, students had presented a funding model that would work if Nsfas was scrapped, she said.

“We wanted universities to do what Nsfas couldn’t because they already have a system of verification.”

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The model “is a funding model that would have worked five, 10 years ago and it could still work now, encompassing and bringing together different sectors of society that have the funds, the means and capability to ensure that no one is left behind in accessing quality decolonised education in universities”.

She said: “It’s not just an issue of students lying to Nsfas, it’s also an issue of staff members in Nsfas being paid off to allow certain individuals to enter the system and benefitting.”

An example of this was the Walter Sisulu University student who fraudulently received R14 million from Nsfas in 2017 and spent R800 000 of it, she said.

Missing middle

A student, who asked to remain anonymous, is part of the missing middle.

He has a working father who owns a parking lot at a mall and an unemployed mother.

His is possibly part of the 40 000 fraudulent claims because he says he left his working father out of the application.

“I applied for Nsfas since my father said my fees were too high. He could afford to pay but his income fluctuates from time to time, so he doesn’t have a guaranteed income.

“He didn’t want to risk it, so I used my mother’s details to apply for Nsfas since they are married traditionally and not legally.”

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Seabe said part of the problem is that it is not clear who Nsfas is accountable to.

“The missing middle is deemed too rich for Nsfas and too poor to fund their own studies so the alternatives are bursaries, industries and student loans.

“But because the unemployment rate is so high, it becomes difficult to work in those industries or pay back the loans.

“The missing middle is in a precarious position. It’s a dangerous and uncertain position.

“But there have to be mechanisms and ways in which we can facilitate and assist the missing middle to access funding,” she said.