The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has revealed its allowance payment plan for the 2024 academic year. This comes after the scheme made upfront payments amounting to billions of rands to institutions to facilitate a smooth start to the 2024 academic year.
NSFAS offers comprehensive bursaries and student loans to deserving students enrolled in approved courses at public universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges.
Funding from NSFAS includes money for tuition and registration fees. Students also receive several NSFAS allowances which aim to cover the costs associated with tertiary education including living expenses, learning material costs, transport costs and the cost of meals.
The Scheme has revealed its allowance payment plan for the rest of the 2024 academic year.
Upfront Payments To Universities
NSFAS disbursed R2.8 billion to universities in January 2024 to cover one month of student accommodation and the book allowance. The book allowance is calculated at half of the total cost whilst the accommodation is calculated as one month of the accommodation cost.
The financial aid scheme also made provision for two months’ worth of allowances to assist institutions with registered medical students whose academic year began in January 2024.
Universities were advised to utilise the funds disbursed to them in accordance with the specified allowance types mentioned above.
Further upfront payments were made in February to cover the remaining allowances. This includes the second half of the book allowance, accommodation allowance for March 2024, transport allowance for February and March and a meal allowance for February and March.
Money for personal care alliances was also disturbed for February and March 2024.
How University Students Will Be Paid Their NSFAS Allowance
NSFAS confirmed that allowances will be distributed using the direct payment method. Students must register with direct payment partners assigned to respective institutions last year as they will be utilised for the 2024 academic year.
NSFAS requested universities to pay allowances for both February and March due to challenges experienced at the beginning of the 2024 academic year. This led to delays in receiving registration data from universities.
The financial aid scheme said universities were also requested to allow direct payment service providers to conduct the process of onboarding students whilst they continue with payments.
The direct payments of allowance for the 2024 academic year will commence in April 2024 and universities will administer the payment of allowances for only two months (February and March) because the 3rd allowances will be made on the direct payment platform.
No exceptions or deviations will be allowed.
Who Will Pay University NSFAS Allowances Going Forward?
| Allowance Type | Distribution Challenge |
| Book Allowance | Institution |
| Accommodation Allowance For The Non-Pilot Accommodations | Institutions |
| Private Accommodation Allowances Pilot | NSFAS |
| Food Allowance | Direct Payment Service Provider |
| Travel Allowance | Direct Payment Service Provider |
| Living Allowance | Direct Payment Service Provider |
| Pre-funder allowances | Institutions |
| Disability Funding | Institutions |
Upfront Payments To TVET Colleges
NSFAS disbursed more than R580 million to TVET College for tuition fees in January 2024. An additional R1 billion was paid to pay student allowances for the first three months of 2024.
They explained that this amount was paid due to a calculation of 20% of each institutional tuition allocation through an upfront payment.
NSFAS urged TVET Colleges to urgently load their registration information so that payments can be made on the direct payment platform.
Who Will Pay TVET College NSFAS Allowances Going Forward?
| Allowance Type | Distribution Challenge |
| Book Allowance | Institution |
| Accommodation Allowance For The Non-Pilot Accommodations | Institutions |
| Private Accommodation Allowances Pilot | NSFAS |
| Food Allowance | Direct Payment Service Provider |
| Travel Allowance | Direct Payment Service Provider |
| Living Allowance | Direct Payment Service Provider |
| Pre-funder allowances | Institutions |
| Disability Funding | Institutions |
NSFAS is urging all institutions to upload student registration data as soon as possible to prevent delays in the distribution of funds.
While NSFAS acknowledges the ongoing registration and funding for certain students, institutions are strongly advised not to postpone the upload of registration data for already funded students.
NSFAS added that for any erection of dual/multiple registration data, NSFAS will temporarily block transactions from students’ accounts.
Affected students will then receive email and SMS notifications guiding them through the account reactivation process. Account reactivation is contingent upon receiving confirmation.
“Institutions were further advised to contact the NSFAS Servicing Administrator deployed in all institutions,” said NSFAS.
