NSFAS urges TVET college students to submit banking details for allowances

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has renewed its appeal for students at Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges to submit their banking details to receive their allowances.

NSFAS Administrator Freeman Nomvalo emphasised this requirement during a media briefing in Pretoria on Monday, discussing the progress of student allowance disbursements, student accommodation, and related administrative reforms.

NSFAS implements a new payment mechanism

Nomvalo explained that NSFAS has implemented a new payment mechanism, introduced on 26 April, to facilitate the direct transfer of allowances to students’ bank accounts. He reported that NSFAS has successfully verified the bank accounts of 211 591 students.

However, 7160 students failed the verification process for various reasons, such as using bank accounts that belong to their parents instead of their own.
Nomvalo underscored the importance of students providing their own banking details.

“The banking details must belong to the student to ensure NSFAS can verify the information against the student’s records, thereby minimising potential risks,” he said.

Furthermore, he also urged students who lack bank accounts to open them with any bank of their choice to avoid delays in receiving their allowances.

Nomvalo addressed students who had issues with the verification of their banking details, encouraging them to correct and resubmit their information.

“Students who received a notification through the myNSFAS portal indicating verification failure should promptly re-submit their correct banking details on the portal,” he advised.

Direct payment mechanism currently applies only to TVET colleges

Despite acknowledging the difficulties faced by university students, Nomvalo clarified that the direct payment mechanism currently applies only to TVET college students.

Moreover, University students will continue to receive their allowances through their respective institutions as per the existing arrangements.

According to SABC, Nomvalo announced the initiation of legal proceedings to remove four service providers who failed to pay students their monthly allowances.

The entities in question are Ezaga Holdings, Coinvest Africa, Narraco Corporation, and Tenet Technologies. These companies were appointed to manage payments to NSFAS beneficiaries, despite facing technical glitches and costly bank charges.

Werksmans Attorneys recommended terminating these contracts after finding that the appointments were made irregularly.