The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will start paying allowances for TVET students directly into their bank accounts from the end of May 2024.
The Scheme made the announcement in a media release on Friday (26 April) following a meeting between its Administrator, Freeman Nomvalo, and the leadership of the South African Technical Vocational Education and Training Student Association (SATVETSA).
NSFAS on direct payments to TVET students
Students have experienced allowance payment delays and even non-payment. Some have reported disappearance of allowances from their accounts.
In their meeting with Nomvalo, the students “expressed serious concerns about the efficacy of the current mode of disbursing allowances,” NSFAS said. Currently, the Scheme pays the bulk of student allowances through TVET colleges.
“NSFAS has devised a payment mechanism to address these ongoing challenges with the assistance of its banker which will be implemented for the payments that are due at the end of May 2024. In terms of the mechanism, NSFAS will distribute allowances directly to student’s bank accounts,” the Scheme said.
“All TVET students who do not have bank accounts are encouraged to open bank accounts with banks of their own choice. The scheme will communicate to all NSFAS beneficiaries requesting them to update their details to enable the smooth implementation of this direct payment mechanism.”
In the meantime, NSFAS said it has deployed senior officials and servicing administrators to TVET colleges where students have experienced challenges with their April allowances.
“Students who were paid on the direct payment platform until April should continue to use those funds. The new arrangement is only from May onwards, more communication will be sent on the off-boarding process,” it said.
With regard to university students, the Scheme said direct payments will not be implemented at the moment. Instead, students will continue receiving their allowances via their institutions until the end of July 2024.