Nsfas chaos: students lose out

LOST OPPORTUNITIES: SIU RECOVERS VARSITIES' UNUSED R1.7BN FROM PERIOD OF FIVE YEARS

- Marizka Coetzer

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) has robbed qualifying students of an opportunity to study as R1.7 billion allocated to higher education institutions was not collected annually and reallocated.

The funds were recently recovered by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), said spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago.

"The funds paid by Wits and University of the Free State (UFS) are unallocated from 2016 to 2021.

"The payments made by Wits University and UFS brings the total amount received from institutions of higher learning to about R1.7 billion since the inception of the Nsfas investigation in September 2022," he said.

These funds were unused due to students receiving multiple sources of funding and changes in the total cost of study for an academic year.

Kganyago said the unallocated funds are supposed to be collected by Nsfas at the end of each year.

Former student 20-year-old Aleah Fontein was furious to hear that Nsfas had unspent money as she had wanted to study criminology, but could not due to lack of funds.

She said she had to pay out of her own pocket for registration at the University of South Africa, but could not afford the fees as she did not have a job and had received no feedback from the Nsfas.