NSFAS to fix students’ applications
System to be updated to resolve blockage
Ndzalama Baloyi cannot register to complete his B-Tech degree in chemistry as he’s waiting for the student aid fund to settle his outstanding tuition fees. Baloyi, 24, a student at the Vaal University of Technology is one of the 83,186 students whose applications with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) from 2017 and 2018 were still unresolved.
“I received funding from the scheme in 2017 when I was still doing my national diploma in analytical chemistry... I have a historical debt of R14,000 which I thought would be covered by NSFAS,” he said. Baloyi, from Soweto, failed one module in 2017 but was still able to register last year and accepted by NSFAS, but all his fees were somehow not paid. “Getting the degree would change my life for the better because my mother is unemployed and I am the only hope for a better future,” he said.
Minister of higher education and training, Naledi Pandor, said there were 19,113 of unresolved applications relating to unsigned loan/bursary agreements alone. “There are a further 64,073 outstanding cases where there are internal system issues that prevent final resolution,” Pandor said.
She added: “Of these 54,807 of which 10,333 are 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 (a process or set or rules to be followed in calculations or other problem solving operations especially by a computer).” Pandor said the causes of these rejections have now been identified and the algorithm was currently being updated to resolve the blockage.
“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.”
She said the remaining 9,266 cases related to internal procedure issues that prevented individual student accounts to be generated. “These issues have been identified and are being fixed,” Pandor said.
‘‘ There are a further 64,073 outstanding cases where there are internal system issues...