LETTER: Administrative failures and a moral crisis — how NSFAS betrays students

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was supposed to be a lifeline for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, ensuring that financial constraints did not stand in the way of education. Yet, every year, thousands of students find themselves abandoned by the very system meant to support them. From delayed payments and housing shortages to the devastating reality of transactional sex for survival, NSFAS has become more of a burden than a solution.

As students, we experience the failures of NSFAS first-hand. At the start of every academic year, we face registration chaos, evictions due to unpaid rent, and endless protests just to get what we were promised. Some of us wait months for funding confirmation, unable to buy textbooks or even food. Others are forced to squat in overcrowded rooms or sleep in university libraries because our accommodation allowances have not been paid on time. How can we be expected to focus on our studies when our basic needs are constantly under threat?

Beyond the administrative failures, the situation has become a moral crisis. Reports of students being coerced into transactional sex by accommodation providers are deeply disturbing. When young people have no choice but to exchange their dignity for a place to stay, the system is not just failing us — it is endangering us. Where is the protection for vulnerable students? Why is NSFAS not holding its service providers accountable?

The lack of accountability from NSFAS and the department of higher education & training (DHET) is frustrating. Every year, we raise the same concerns, yet nothing changes. If students can predict these issues, why can’t the government? Why are we still dealing with delays and inefficiencies that could be prevented with better planning and co-ordination between NSFAS, universities and the DHET? Instead of real solutions, we get empty promises, new leadership, and yet another cycle of crisis.

We are tired of being treated as an afterthought in a system that exists for our benefit. If NSFAS is serious about improving its services, it must listen to students. We need transparent processes, real-time communication, and mechanisms that ensure funds are disbursed before the academic year begins. We need stricter regulations to protect students from exploitative landlords. Above all, we need leadership that prioritises our wellbeing over bureaucratic inefficiencies.

With the appointment of Waseem Carrim as acting CEO, there is a glimmer of hope. His record of clean audits at the National Youth Development Agency suggests he may bring much-needed accountability to NSFAS. But one person alone cannot fix a broken system. It is up to us, the students, to keep demanding the change we deserve.

Education should empower us, not break us. It’s time NSFAS stopped failing students and started fulfilling its mandate.

Kingsley Moswane
By e-mail

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