Africa-Press – South-Africa. Students from various universities plan to march to the Cape Town head office of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) on Wednesday over funding grievances and new student allowance payment methods.
In a joint statement on Monday, student representative council (SRC) leaders from universities in the Western Cape and the Free State said some students had still not received funding, roughly three months into the academic year, and others were “wrongfully defunded”.
They also claimed that other students only received funding for study materials, not meals and accommodation.
“NSFAS has also taken another barbaric approach by hampering and disadvantaging the academic performance of students registered for less than 60 credits towards their qualification. This scheme has decided that this cohort of students is only eligible for a learning materials allowance, excluding them from meal and accommodation allowances,” the statement read.
It said students who appealed their rejection for funding were in limbo because the scheme failed to address their appeals.
The SRC also criticised the scheme’s new payment method, saying corruption would thrive among service providers.
NSFAS announced it would distribute student allowances through its bank accounts as part of its digital transformation.
However, the group questioned whether service providers could conduct due diligence to prevent fraud and corruption.
The joint statement read: “Students can register at the beginning of the year and later deregister, but they will continue to receive their allowances even when they are not students. In the same light, many students do not get accommodation at the beginning of the year and continue to stay at home or with their friends [while they] receive travelling allowances. As the year progresses, should they now get accommodation, the universities can pick that up and immediately cease the distribution of travel allowances. How will these companies be able to pick up such information, or will they continue to pay students travel allowances and later charge them for fraud?”
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