National Student Financial Aid Scheme media statement on student protests at Tshwane University of Technology The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) condemns the violent protests by students at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) which have disrupted studies and resulted in the closure of the university. TUT is already the single biggest recipient of NSFAS funding. This year, NSFAS allocated R633,5 million for student financial aid at TUT, which will fund over 21 000 students. While we understand that students are protesting in support of NSFAS receiving a bigger budget and being able to provide loans and bursaries to more TUT students, destroying buses, cars and other property is not the way to go about convincing anyone to put more funding into TUT. The R633,5 million is made up of R453 million from the DHET, R136 million from the National Skills Fund and R44 million from the Department of Basic Education’s Funza Lushaka teacher training programme. This is more financial aid funding by far than any other university in the country. TUT students and student organisations are incorrect in stating that R90 million was returned by TUT to NSFAS. In 2013, an additional amount of R277 million was made available to TUT by the Minister of Higher Education and Training through the National Skills Fund to address the shortage of financial aid in 2013 and 2014. The R90 million that students say is being returned to NSFAS is actually part of the funding being used by TUT this year. TUT students have lost nothing, they are the single biggest beneficiaries of NSFAS funding. There also appears to be confusion about the difference between NSFAS and the Financial Aid Office of TUT. There are references to the Financial Aid Office at TUT as “NSFAS”. This office belongs to TUT and is staffed by university employees. The facts are as follows: • The TUT Financial Aid Office is solely responsible for receiving and approving all financial aid applications from students at TUT; • TUT is responsible processing applications and for deciding which students will be funded and how much they will receive for tuition fees, residence fees, food, books and travel; • The role of NSFAS is to provide the annual allocation, to receive the claims that TUT has processed against the allocated annual amount, and to pay the claimed amount to the university. Last week the university spokesperson blamed the new NSFAS system for the student protests. This is completely incorrect as the new system has not been implemented at TUT. In the new system, students will apply directly to NSFAS, and the TUT Financial Aid Office will no longer make the decision about who will, and who will not, receive funding. The new system is currently being introduced in a pilot phase at six universities. TUT is not one of them. Last week, we complained to the university that its spokesperson was issuing incorrect and misleading information, adding fuel to the fire of student protests, and being used by third parties to attack NSFAS. We requested the university to issue a public statement correcting the misinformation. We received a written apology from the Vice Chancellor, Professor Ogude, and an undertaking that the university would issue a correction. We call on the university to ensure that its officials to provide accurate information to students. We have offered to make ourselves available to participate in any forum convened by the university or the DHET to resolve the current situation. Mr Zamayedwa Sogayise, Chairperson of the Board of NSFAS 23 September 2014
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 14:25:43 +0000
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