NSFAS

Does NSFAS need to increase allowance?

By Qaqamba Matundu

With prices of everything increasing in South Africa. The cost of living is high. Students are the ones suffering the most with the “little” allowance they get.

“Over fifty thousand people, many of whom are university students have signed a petition imploring Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande and National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to increase their allowance. They want the current allowance of R1,500 to be increased to R2000 to accommodate the increase cost of essentials like groceries and toiletries.” Says Enoch

Many students across the country come from unprivileged homes whereby they do not get any allowance from parents. It is not easy for students to afford everything as they need to buy food , toiletries and others do not qualify to get transport money, so they also use some of the money for transport to school. Students come from different provinces far away from their home, they are on their own.

Mashala, a student from Limpopo said, “Transport has gone up and then there are stapples like food and medicine. R1,500 is not enough.

"Esona Fanele said “We have to buy food and clothes and it’s not like we receive anything from home, some of us don’t have parents, this is all we’ve got.

Education Professor Jonathan Jansen disagreed with the petition. He said, “Why not make the allowance R10 000? If the state is there to provide you with food and clothing, why stop at R2000? Imagine what ECD (Early Childhood Development) could do with that money if the university is little more than a SASSA pay point go all the way."

One of the West Coast College students Luthando said she only get R290 from NSFAS. They do not get money for accommodation. With only R290 and the high cost of living, NSFAS needs to do something with that. There is no way a student can survive for the whole month with that money because the only money she gets from home is for accommodation. She must figure by herself on what she is going to eat, wear and how she is going to get toiletries. 

According to one of the students from Catsville residence pointed out that another reason why NSFAS needs to increase allowance is, data is expensive and other students still do online learning. Yes, students living at school residences have Wi-Fi, but they always complain that sometimes it doesn’t work yet the school doesn’t give them data for back-up. Students might miss assignments and at times it happens that the Wi-Fi stops working while the student is in the middle of writing a test with no back-up because he/she doesn’t have money to buy data.

There are students whose health’s are not good; they need to buy expensive medication each time. It won’t be nice losing a student with a bright future just because there was no money to buy medicine. NSFAS needs to look at all these things because they might seem useless but, in all honesty, they are serious, and they need to be taken serious too. Some students at Cape Peninsula University of Technology doing Industrial Design and Fashion Design have complaints that they have to buy stuff for schoolwork using their allowance, sometimes spend about R1000 per month. What are they supposed to eat throughout the month? Education students also have a problem of money when it is time for practical. They need to travel to school and come back every day and taxi fares went up.

A report by Cloete said “NSFAS is operating with a bigger budget as the fund tries to cope with larger volumes of students who require funding. Since the Covid-19 pandemic it has been seen that the number of students who require financial assistance rise.” Students out there arecoming from disadvantaged homes, so the R1,500 is not enough.

A student from CPUT reported in one of the social media platforms and said, “We need to talk about this R1,500 of NSFAS that is no longer relevant. Social grants and others increase whenever minister of finance deliver a speech but when it comes to NSFAS nothing is changing. Each generation has been getting this R1500, it has been years. Life is expensive in nowadays , if it means we must strike so be it.” Said Bomber