NSFAS News – On Thursday, the Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande, presented the Budget Vote for his department. During his presentation, the Minister revealed just how much goes into NSFAS funding and the future of NSFAS.
One of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic was that NSFAS saw itself suffering from a shortfall which then impacted the NSFAS funding of first year students. Now, the Department of Higher Education has said that great efforts have gone towards closing the gaps in funding.
During the Budget Vote presented by the Higher Education Minister, Blade Nzimande, it was revealed that billions currently goes into NSFAS with more coming.
Government remains firmly committed to supporting students from poor and working class backgrounds whilst also putting mechanisms in place to support students from the so-called ‘missing middle’ and postgraduate students.
Government provides R143 billion towards NSFAS over the past few years to support over 800 000 students.
The NSFAS budget for the 2022/2023 financial year amounts to R49 billion. Nzimande revealed that R45 billion of this comes from his department while R527 million comes from the National Skills Fund.
R11 billion of the R49 billion NSFAS spends goes towards student accommodation every year but difficulties and insufficient funds remain. Nzimande responded to this issue by saying that money has not been used as a guarantee to get more money from private sector to secure more accommodation but that his department aims to do so.
Speaking on these figures, the Minister said that they will ensure that the full NSFAS shortfall is addressed as well.
A large part of the total Higher Education budget is spent on Universities. However, out of the 580 849 students who attend TVET Colleges, 329 564 receive NSFAS funding.
Over R49 Billion Has Been Injected Into NSFAS For 2022 Academic Year
