Johannesburg – The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) Administrator Freeman Nomvalo has announced that from May allowances for Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students will be paid directly into their bank accounts.
NSFAS on Friday said it devised a payment mechanism to address these ongoing challenges with the assistance of its banker which will be implemented for the payments that are due at the end of May 2024.
“In terms of the mechanism, NSFAS will distribute allowances directly to student’s bank accounts,” the scheme said in a statement.
“All TVET students who do not have bank accounts are encouraged to open bank accounts with banks of their own choice.”
NSFAS said it was equally mindful of challenges experienced by university students, however, “this direct payment mechanism will currently apply to TVET college students”.
The statement added: “University students will continue to receive their allowance through their institutions until the end of July 2024.
“Students who were paid on the direct payment platform until April should continue to use those funds.
“The new arrangement is only from May onwards, more communication will be sent on the off-boarding process.”
Administrator Nomvalo said NSFAS was also attending to the challenges of students who may have not received their allowances so that the new mechanism is not burdened by legacy issues.
The development came after the Administrator convened an urgent meeting with the leadership of the South African Technical Vocational Education and Training Student Association (SATVETSA) on the 23rd April 2024.
The meeting dealt with students’ increased unhappiness with the delays in the payment or non-payment of allowances, as well as the disappearance of allowances in student’s accounts.
In this meeting, the students expressed serious concerns about the efficacy of the current mode of disbursing allowances.
