How NSFAS intends eliminating student accommodation challenges

NATIONAL Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) acting chief executive officer, Waseem Carrim, yesterday said the entity undertook the student accommodation pilot project without a necessary feasibility study, without an appropriate risk assessment, capacity building policy guideline or legal framework.

- THOBEKA NGEMA

This emerged when NSFAS provided an update to the portfolio committee on higher education and training regarding student accommodation challenges during a meeting yesterday.

Carrim said there are three levels of accommodation: on-campus institution-owned and managed accommodation, private accredited student accommodation and private unaccredited accommodation.

For the 2025 academic year, NSFAS had accredited about 326 000 beds, received about 152 000 applications and about 126 000 students have been onboarded in that process. They paid 3800 extra accommodation providers representing over 100 000 students. To date, the disbursements are about R1.3 billion.

"If we reflect on the challenges with student accommodation, NSFAS undertook the student accommodation pilot project without a necessary feasibility study, without an appropriate risk assessment, capacity building policy guideline or legal framework," Carrim said.

"We would like the function to go back to institutions, but we have to do it in a way that's fair, equitable and transparent, that doesn't seem to be just shifting the problem from NSFAS to institutions.