NSFAS has backlog of 80 000 bursary applications
Some of these date back to 2017, Pandor says
HIGHER Education Minister Naledi Pandor has revealed that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has a backlog of more than 80 000 unresolved bursary applications dating back to 2017.
Pandor made the comment when she responded in a written response to a parliamentary question.
It was submitted by the DA’s Andricus van der Westhuizen, who asked about the current backlog of administration, reconciliations and payments.
Pandor said the total number of unresolved applications from 2017 and 2018 stood at 83 186 as at February 14.
“Of these, 19 113 relate to unsigned loan/bursary agreements.”
She also said the absence of signed contracts prevented NSFAS from making payments to the applicants or the educational institution at which they were registered.
Pandor said the details of the students with unsigned contracts were sent regularly to their host institutions for them to ensure that the contracts were signed.
“Once signed, fees and allowances can be paid immediately,” Pandor explained.
The minister also said there were a further 64 073 outstanding cases where there were internal system issues that prevented final resolution of the bursary applications.
“Of these, 54 807 (10 333 from 2017 and 44 474 from 2018) relate to changes in fees or allowances that, for a number of reasons, are rejected by the processing algorithm.
“The causes of these rejections have now been identified, and the algorithm is currently being updated to resolve the blockage,” Pandor said.
She said NSFAS planned to complete this work by this week.
“It is important to note that all these cases refer to students who have received allowances and fee payments based on the original figures submitted by the registering institution.
“The problems relate to subsequent changes due to a course or personal circumstance changes.”
Pandor also said 9 266 cases related to internal procedure issues that prevented individual student accounts from being generated.
“These issues have been identified and are being fixed. These will all be resolved.”
The student financial scheme had last year experienced challenges, including funding decisions, in addressing the 2017 academic year backlog, the non-payment and delays in the payment of allowances and a weakness in data integration between NSFAS and institutions.
This led Pandor to appoint Randall Carolissen as the administrator.
NSFAS received more than 400 000 applications for bursaries for the 2019 academic year.
However, only about 170 000 of the students who applied were confirmed as qualifying for the student financial scheme.