Meeting on funding with minister

THE South African Union of Students and student representative council (SRC) presidents from all 26 universities across the country are today expected to meet Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Blade Nzimande to discuss the state of readiness for the 2020 academic year.

This comes amid a call by #OpenNSFAS – a campaign started by the SRCs – for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to reopen for late applicants and walk-ins.

Union secretary-general Lwandile Mtsolo said their demands included the revision of the Department of Higher Education and Training bursary guidelines to include submissions made by the SRCs last year.

“This is to ensure that students who stay in private and off-campus (accommodation) aren’t excluded from allowances, and female students on NSFAS receive an allowance for sanitary towels.

“The NSFAS appeals process must be made transparent, efficient and responsive to ensure students don’t lose their spaces in universities.

“Many students still await responses on NSFAS applications. We reject the exclusionary policy of N+1 and we call for the reinstatement of N+2 when it relates to NSFAS funding eligibility,” said Mtsolo.

At a media briefing last week, Nzimande said 430000 applications had been approved by the financial aid scheme. He said NSFAS had received a record number of applications by the closing date of November 30.

“More than 543268 first-time applications were received from across the country. After a significant number had been processed, 359 037 applications were approved for the NSFAS funding.

“A total of 281639 of all applicants received were SA Social Security Agency’s beneficiaries,” Nzimande said.