NSFAS Logo. Image: NSFAS portal
NSFAS rejected 45 927 dishonest students
The NSFAS has defunded 45 927 dishonest and unworthy students, after discovering that these students applied with false information.
NSFAS Logo. Image: NSFAS portal
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is so adamant that the students who got rejected by NSFAS, would not be approved because they provided false documentation when applying for the bursary.
Why were the students rejected?
National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) board chairperson Ernest Khoza informed the media at a press conference on 7 August in Pretoria, that the students were rejected for the bursary because they submitted misleading information on their applications.
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The organisation used state departments like Sars, the Department of Home Affairs, the South African State Security Agency and credit bureaus to verify the information of the beneficiaries and after re-evaluation, funding was reinstated for 14 703 students while the rest (31 224) remained defunded.
He stated that these pupils are not deserving of the bursary and that they will no longer be funded.
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“For example, students would provide correct parental relationships in their first application attempt, and when they get rejected due to financial status of those parents; and when they reapply, they submit different parental relationships. When we did revaluation, our system picked up the original information that was previously submitted,” said Khoza.
How NSFAS discovered wrongfully funded students
The strict screening process began this year when NSFAS discovered that it had lost R5 billion by supporting 40 000 unworthy students between 2018 and 2021. Those funds have not been retrieved.
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The defunding of students recently sparked students protests. Some students allege they were unfairly denied funding.
Complaints about the new online allowance payment system, which students allege is unreliable and has higher bank charges than some commercial banks, were also motivating the protests.
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