Universities: How NSFAS Allowances Have Been Disbursed For 2022

Before the official funding allocation for the 2022 academic year, the National Student Financial Aids (NSFAS) had to rely on alternative funding scenarios to disburse universities' funds. Here is how the bursary scheme carried out the first phase of funding allocations for higher learning throughout 2022

The National Student Financial Aids Scheme (NSFAS) has noted that it has managed to disburse bursary allowances to universities despite having experienced various challenges linked to funding allocation.


The planned disbursement for 8 April was the first in the 2022 academic year, given the lack of cash reserves that had made it feasible for NSFAS to deliver upfront payments to institutions at the start of the academic year.

The bursary scheme adds that it could manage to make upfront tuition payments to colleges during February, which in turn were used to disburse student allowances,

However, no upfront payments were made to Universities, and as a result, all universities had to temporarily rely on their own resources to allocate allowance to NSFAS qualifying students.

The committee further states that NSFAS received registration data for 459 141 students from 597 700 provisionally funded students.

In addition, NSFAS had made payments to 416 577 students whose registration data had been successfully linked and complied with the funding criteria.

NSFAS did not process 35 372 registration data records due to their non-compliance with eligibility rules, including the N1+ rule for universities.

The problem was that students whose registration data had been submitted but had not been correctly verified could not be eligible for allowances until these concerns were remedied.

Furthermore, a possible 145 751 overdue registration data from institutions was apparent in the data given, compared to funded students and 2021 registration statuses.