Cape Town - More than R5billion in loan repayments has been made by National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) recipients between 1992 to 2018.
Most of the beneficiaries who were making repayments were from the Tshwane University of Technology, Unisa and Walter Sisulu University, and the fewest from Sefako Makgatho Health Science University, Sol Plaatjies University and the University of Mpumalanga.
NSFAS spokesperson Kagisho Mamabolo said beneficiaries were obliged to make repayments once they were employed and earning above R30000 a year.
Mamabolo said full-time students were exempted from repaying their loans, but those who studied part time and were in full-time employment were required to make repayment arrangements.
He said it was important to note that all NSFAS debt accumulated by continuing students before the 2018 academic year must be repaid by the student in accordance with the Loan Agreement Forms completed with the NSFAS up to and including the 2017 academic year.
He said they were in partnership with the South African Revenue Service in terms of an amendment of the Tax Administration Act of 2011, which makes provisions for Sars to disclose to NSFAS debtors’ names, their tax reference numbers, personal contact details, their employers’ names,
contacts and other non-financial information at the request of the NSFAS.
Kagisho Mamabolo. Picture: Supplied
“The money we receive from recoveries plays a vital role in the organisation as the funds are re-injected into a new budget which allows us to fund more students,” Mamabolo said.
The SA Students Congress provincial chairperson, Buyile Matiwane, said the NSFAS has been an integral instrument in broadening access to education and economic participation.
“The sixth administration and the ministers which will have NSFAS in their purview must continue to ensure that NSFAS remains an effective tool for participation and access to higher education and give optimum responsibility to those with the requisite operational responsibility for the day-to-day running of the entity,” Matiwane said.
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