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NSFAS demands R45 billion in unpaid loans from former students
Cape Argus
|August 28, 2025
NATIONAL Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) CEO Waseem Carrim has revealed that the scheme is owed R45 billion in outstanding student loans and has called on former beneficiaries to begin repayments.
Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria yesterday, Carrim said the loans date back to 2018 and earlier, and were granted by NSFAS and its predecessor, the Tertiary Education Fund of South Africa (Tefsa).
NSFAS was established in 1996 to provide financial assistance to students. Initially, it was run by Tefsa, a nonprofit organisation set up in 1991.
Tefsa administered the fund until 2000 and was officially converted into a statutory body in 1999, becoming NSFAS.
Carrim admitted that NSFAS has struggled with recovering debts over the years. “It has not had the best debt management strategy. But we cannot, as a board and management, continue to sit on that substantial amount of debt and not collect it” he said.
This story is from the August 28, 2025 edition of Cape Argus.
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