Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande on Tuesday told higher learning institutions not to deny National Student Financial Aid Scheme- (NSFAS-) funded students with outstanding payments registration for the current academic year.

Nzimande was giving an update on the state of readiness for institutions of higher learning following the release of the 2023 matric results. 

He noted that as part of a smooth beginning to the 2024 academic year, NSFAS would process up to R4.2-billion as an upfront payment to all government colleges and universities prior to the finalisation of applications and registrations.

He added that out of its financial reserves, the scheme would pay R1-billion to colleges and R3.2-billion to universities, allowing them to register students receiving financial aid.

Nzimande explained that the scheme reported a number of outstanding allowances following a thorough data analysis provided by institutions to finalise payments of outstanding allowances for the 2023 academic year.

“I call on NSFAS, working together with institutions, to ensure that they speedily resolve all the outstanding payments. I am urging institutions not to deny NSFAS-funded students with outstanding payments to register for the current academic year,” he said.

Nzimande said that the outstanding payments were due to the reconciliation between NSFAS and higher learning institutions, predominately because of registration data changes.

He said the scheme ought to be strict in 2024 in its management with adjusting the registrations processes and institutions ought to submit their registration information timeously upon first submission.

He said submissions must not be made later than March 31.

He said NSFAS has received 1.5-million bursary applications as of January 21, saying the scheme has provisionally already funded more than 657 000 applicants, mainly South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) beneficiaries.

“This thing that we are not funding, it is not true,” he said.

He said the scheme anticipated additional applications before the close of the 2024 application, on January 31.

He said applicants were requested to submit a consent form to verify relevant information from third parties, such as Sassa and the South African Revenue Service (Sars). He noted that the information was required to verify the employment status and income level of parents of the applicant.

“It is mandatory for applicants to download and upload a completed consent form on the NSFAS website or the NSFAS portal or its mobile application. The Sars consent form requirements affect students who are in the application data category,” he explained.

He said nonsubmission of the complete, accurate and duly signed NSFAS form would disqualify a student from NSFAS funding owing to NSFAS’s inability to evaluate and determine financial legibility.

However, he noted that Sassa beneficiaries who had been approved for funding, were not required to submit these forms. He added that this was because no financial checks were conducted on the parents of the applicants.