With South Africa bumped back down to level 1 lockdown after another “family meeting” in September, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has made the decision to re-open its Cape Town walk-in centre next week.
“With the country being placed on lockdown Level 1 by the President, NSFAS will open its Walk-in Centre at the Cape Town Offices on Monday 11 October 2021. The working hours are between 09H00 -16H30. Find us at House Cloete, Brodie Road, Wynberg, Cape Town,” NSFAS explained on Twitter.
For those who would like to call ahead to the offices for any reasons – such as to see if space is available to allow for social distancing – this official governmental website lists the two contact numbers at the location as 080 006 7327 and 021 763 3200.
As always we recommend checking out the official NSFAS contact details available on this page here.
While we are now in level 1 lockdown and the vaccine rollout is cause for mild optimism, some may question why a physical location for NSFAS is required when the organisation can be contacted in a number of different ways remotely.
As we discussed when #NSFAS and #UselessUnisa were trending on Twitter, big educational institutions have a poor record when it comes to responding to student questions in a timeous manner. Sometimes when students have a problem that is urgent or has been outstanding for a long time with no resolution through remote communication, a physical visit to something like a walk-in centre is one of the few ways to get proper help.
There’s also the issue of scammers having easier access to students online, a persistent problem that NSFAS itself has to deal with constantly with warnings.
For those who would like to visit a physical location but are not based in Cape Town, NSFAS provides a number of application centres outlined here. The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) works with NSFAS and its list of location is available here.
