Minister Blade Nzimande admitted in a statement issued earlier in October that for some time, he had received complaints from applicants who had experienced delays in their Nsfas funding allocations.
He further stated that this was due to the thorough verification process needed to identify eligible students.
However, to ensure that the application process is as efficient and accessible as possible, the ministry also announced a few changes to the application process.
Nzimande said that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme has since developed an application process that, in addition to being user-friendly, will also provide real-time responses to students without compromising the application validation process.
This comes after Nsfas conducted a review of all its critical systems aimed at delivering mandated services to students and other stakeholders (institutions, DHET, etc.), including new applications.
One of the areas that have been reviewed extensively are the processes and enabling technologies centred around the organisation’s ability to assess, confirm, and communicate eligibility decisions to students.
The Minister visited NSFAS and was shown a demonstration of this new application system.
He added that these changes will enable applicants to receive feedback instantaneously or within 48 hours at the latest, provided that all the required support documents have been submitted.
The students make up approximately 65% of the cohort of student applicants. The balance of approximately 35% of the cohort of student applicants will go through further processing and be given a response much faster than previous application cycles.
Students have been urged to apply as soon as possible and provide all the necessary information to support their applications to ensure that the process goes smoothly.
The applications system will be open from 2 November 2021 until 7 January 2022.
