Students voiced complaints about the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) application system’s numerous bugs during the preceding academic year. Significant adjustments are reportedly being made this year to enhance the application process.
The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) Minister Dr. Blade Nzimande confirmed that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) funding application cycle for the 2023 academic year opened on 28 September 2023 and will close 31 January 2023.
In a media briefing, Nzimande announced that Nsfas application system has improved, and questions asked on this system have also been made simpler.
According to reports, the application system has been redesigned to be more user-friendly, making it similar to other platforms that prospective applicants are accustomed to such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
In an interview, South African Union of Students (SAUS) spokesperson, Asive Dlanjwa said:
As a union, we are yet to establish exactly the extent to which the usability of the system has been improved.
It is said that applicants will also be allowed to pause and continue at a later stage without restarting the whole process from scratch.
Dlanjwa has explained that this will be done by its members across the country, gathering feedback as the union prepares to meet up with Nsfas.
In the previous academic year, students and student leaders were complaining about a range of issues that disadvantaged students when they were applying for funding.
According to reports, the system suffered glitches and was down due to it not being able to handle the traffic.
During this time, some students also pointed out that the system would sometimes block them out before having submitted certain supplementary documents.
The student union has seeked clarity on a number of aspects of the outreach campaign that will aim at assisting applicants without internet access and proper gadgets to submit their funding application.
