• NSFAS has confirmed that beneficiaries are already seeing an increase to their monthly allowance.
• University students are seeing a four percent increase while TVET college students a larger 46 percent increase, as of the beginning of February.
• NSFAS continues to struggle to sort out its laundry list of challenges despite the change.

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has confirmed that the Department of Higher Education and Training has granted an increase to the monthly allowance that beneficiaries of NSFAS receive for the first time since 2022.

Beneficiaries are supposed to receive a monthly allowance from the scheme, also called the stipend, that is supposed to cover living expenses and study-related costs. This year, NSFAS has decided to increase the allowance to in an apparent effort to help students cope with raising costs.

The newly increased amount of the monthly allowance of NSFAS students is reportedly already reflecting as of February 2025. NSFAS university students will recive a four percent increase in allowances, and TVET college students will receive a much more hefty 46 percent increase, essentially from R10 000 to R14 600 per month to cover all of their costs, including accommodation, transport, living expenses and tuition.

“We have considered the cost of living, which is very high, as well as some of the socioeconomic challenges that our people are facing every day. So we’ve decided to then adjust student allowances for this financial year to 4 percent,” Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane told the SABC.

She said that TVET college beneficiaries were seeing a larger increase “to ensure equity and address the issues of social justice.”

Beneficiaries at universities will continue receiving their monthly stipends directly from their institutions, while TVET college beneficiaries are going to still be receiving their stipends directly to their bank accounts as of a decision made in July 2024.

The decision to increase allowances comes as NSFAS and its governing department continues to struggle to lift the scheme out of squalor after many years of mismanagement and alleged corruption. The department recently appointed a new board of directors after months without.

The new chair of the board, Karen Stander, called for an investigation into NSFAS after taking the post “not to assign blame, but to gather the necessary data that will allow us to make informed, bold and sustainable decisions.”

Stander suggested that NSFAS seek to forge stronger relationships with public universities and TVET colleges in order to find solutions to funding problems, like delivery stipends late to students.

“Our challenges are interconnected, if universities and colleges struggle with capacity, NSFAS must be ready with funding solutions that align with those realities. If financial aid processes are delayed or inefficient, universities and colleges feel the impact just as much as students do,” she said at the time.