The Department of Higher Education and Training has nearly tripled the budget available to provide loans and bursaries to students from poor and working-class households, but the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) still experienced a shortfall of R2.6-billion in 2013, Higher Education and Training Minister Dr Blade Nzimande said on Thursday.

Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria, he said the NSFAS’s 2014 budget had jumped from R3.1-billion in 2009 to just over R9-billion – R2-billion of which was allocated to further education and training (FET) colleges – to keep pace with the increasing number of eligible students requiring financial assistance to further their studies.

The NSFAS was unable to adequately support all “financially needy” students, particularly with an ever-increasing number of matriculants qualifying to undertake studies at post-school higher education and training institutions.

Owing to the limited funding, students that had performed “poorly” in 2013 would not likely be funded again this year.

This comes as recent protest action by students has brought to light the challenges of financial assistance.

Since the start of the year, students have been protesting at the University of Johannesburg, Durban University of Technology, Mangosuthu University of Technology and Tshwane University of Technology.

“I am concerned with the developments that have taken place over the past few days in relation to issues of registration and the provision of loans and bursaries to students at higher education institutions,” Nzimande said, pointing out that none of the protests had been directed at the lack of institutional plans, disorganised admissions or registration processes.

He averred that, despite the shortfall, the NSFAS was funding the majority of the needy students accepted at universities, with assistance extended to more than 430 000 students at 25 public universities and 50 public FET colleges during the 2014 academic year.

“Government has, to date, put in place a number of initiatives to alleviate the burden of fees from poor parents and students in South Africa at both public universities and FET colleges and had, since its inception, assisted over 1.4-million students,” he pointed out.

In an effort to deal with the shortfall, the department had sourced another R1-billion from the National Skills Fund to cover the 2013 and 2014 deficit for students continuing their studies at universities, as well as engaging sector education and training authorities to aid in supporting students.

And while Nzimande considered the NSFAS one of the African National Congress government's major success stories, various challenges had emerged and the department had implemented a turnaround plan to boost the effectiveness of the scheme to provide more efficient and effective financial aid to students.

The NSFAS was currently piloting a central application process for loans and bursaries, a new central loans and bursaries administration process, and appropriate governance and internal controls at 12 institutions, comprising seven universities and five FET colleges.

“The new loan management system was implemented in October 2013 and, as with the introduction of new technologies and processes, there have been teething problems, which resulted in the delay of payment for 2013 students.

“We must ensure the successful implementation and adoption of the NSFAS transformation programme pilot, since it is aimed at providing financial aid to students more equitably, efficiently and effectively than in the past,” Nzimande added.

Over the next few years, the project would be rolled out across all universities and FET colleges in South Africa.