#nsfas

But not in the way anyone would think. Before we jump to conclusions I am in full support of all the strikes. Don't stop until you get the compensation you deserve.

But it makes me sad because for context I'm South African. I go to university on a financial aid scheme created by the government and lately out government has been getting worse and worse. Showing its stripes worse and worse. And so I'm not shocked that their financial aid scheme is showing funny changed.

So the financial aid scheme is call Nationtional Student Financial Aid Scheme, it became a bursary (scholarship) a few years ago after a bunch of "fee must fall strikes" which were in response to high tertiary school fees. That happened while I was in primary school (around grade 7) and it now funds disadvantaged students whose families earn a household income of less than ZAR350000 per annum ($19520, €17538, £15172).

Okay cool. Nice. But what it doesn't take into account are middle income families earning over that threshold but are still unable to afford school fees, either because there's many mouths to feed in a household or because they are just part of the missing middle but that's not the chat.

As much as I see #treelaw trending I also wanna see NSFAS trending. I want to see tumblr talking about all these things cause they are such a big fucking deal.

Usually how the scheme works is they send money to the university that pays tuition, the university also distributes the accommodation and living allowance to the funded students. Recently, the scheme has changed and they decided to create a bank account that sends students living allowances straight to them and here's where the problem starts.

There was a bid to decide which corporation/banks would be in charge of creating this specific NSFAS student bank account and a bunch of corporations no one has ever heard of outbid the largest banks and organisations in the country. The company is called Noracco, eZaga, Coinvest and Tenet.

Now here's where things get silly goofy.

They are not a registered financial service provider. They barely even have a fucking website. And they are handling people's livelihoods and billions of South African Rands. Only one of the corporations is connected to an authorised financial service provider which is eZaga. (How this was not a requirement I have no idea)

Students are not getting their living allowances. This means no groceries, no transport home, toiletries, nothing. Keep in mind these are disadvantaged students. No one is getting extra money from home to help them with such expenses

They have terrible service. No phone calls, emails nothing is answered.

They have insanely high bank charges. This takes advantage of so many students and uses up what little allowance money they have to live. A student usually receives around R1600 for a month (which is around 89USD)

You can't spend more than a capped amount of money a day, which is incredibly inconvenient when shopping for groceries as one can spend almost R800 (44USD) on groceries plus an extra R50-R100 (3-8 USD) for transportation.

This was started in the middle of the school year (February-November is how the year works here, it started in June/July for universities and TVETs had been introduced to in 2022 and have been striking against it since)

Students are out here SUFFERING and there is no one helping!!! We are being THREATENED to participate in this sham with out living allowances being WITHHELD FROM US.

The financial abuse is soooo real

I know im talking into the void but I'm hoping and praying that this catches someone's attention enough for people to start talking about it.

Here are a bunch of articles calling out this weird, Obviously corrupt organisations that answer anything that doesn't currently have any links connected to it.

The public protector has also recently been assigned to investigate.

https://www.outa.co.za/blog/newsroom-1/post/nsfas-what-are-you-doing-with-student-funds-1233

https://www.da.org.za/2023/07/da-raises-alarm-over-nsfas-direct-payment-system

https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/myunisa/default/Announcements/Unisa-has-taken-note-of-concerns-raised-by-students-regarding-direct-payment-system

https://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/news/fraudulent-withdrawals-from-nsfas-funded-students-accounts-threaten-their-future-a4a47850-bad4-45e9-a30f-9b8b48a08998

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2023-07-10-tut-students-reject-new-banking-system-for-nsfas-beneficiaries/

On top of this, NSFAS has also been defending thousands of students nationally referring to them as "undeserving". While I understand there are some people who take advantage of them system specifically for underprivileged students the way they went about it is not the best.

Students are actively being thrown out of their residents and accommodations and being de-registered from their institutions. Questions have been put in place as to what is deemed as undeserving but all NSFAS can claim is students who are financially and/or academically ineligible refusing to take into account student circumstances.

At the end of the day, every student uses the scheme the same way. And sure sometimes there's someone with a household with more than R350000 p/a benefiting but personally, I don't see anything wrong with someone having a little extra pocket money. There is no reason anyone, anywhere should be forced to live on a to make ends meet budget.

This was not the best layout. It was probably messy and all over the place, but I have never really written something this long, complex and detailed for tumblr. It's missing so many important details and contexts that I'm hoping anyone who cares to read will find out more about and help give us a voice.

We just want to learn without worrying about where we're going to sleep or what we're going to eat.

If your NSFAS status says “Funding Eligible”, you might be wondering what it actually means.

A lot of students assume this means funding has already been approved, but that is not always the case.

Funding Eligible usually means the system has confirmed that you qualify for financial aid, but your university still needs to submit registration information before funding moves forward.

This guide explains the full process and what usually happens next.

It’s frustrating — but before you stress, check this guide I put together that explains why verification takes time and what you actually can do next.

🔹 What verification means 🔹 When and why delays happen 🔹 What you should check 🔹 When it’s worth visiting NSFAS in person

Read more here: 👉 https://smartafricaguide.com/nsfas-verification-stuck/

Ever wondered which colleges NSFAS pays for? We break down the full 2026 list of NSFAS-funded institutions — and how to check if your college qualifies. 🔗 https://smartafricaguide.com/which-colleges-are-funded-by-nsfas/