The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has recently introduced the NSFAS bank card, allowing all funded students at universities and TVET colleges to receive their allowances and make transactions via these cards.
The bursary scheme currently funds an estimated 900,000 students studying at institutions across the country. This card was introduced in order to alleviate challenges currently faced by beneficiaries, as well as an easier method to distribute these funds to an ever-growing number of funded students.
The new payment method will provide the following benefits:
- Access to value-added services
- Students will have the freedom to make their own payments, including online transactions
- "Tap to pay" functionality with a virtual card
- Download the allocated partner’s mobile app and transact via EFT
- Students will receive an SMS each time a transaction is made
- Negotiated rates
These bank cards will be PIN-protected and will allow beneficiaries more control over their finances, teaching them financial responsibility.
This new banking system is able to restrict transactions to allowable commodities.
However, while this bank card is to eventually be distributed to all beneficiaries, students with disabilities will still receive their NSFAS allowances from the institution at which they are studying. The organisation has not given a reason for this decision.
For students with disabilities, NSFAS will make payments directly to the bank accounts of the institution. The institution is then responsible for providing these allowances to students.
All NSFAS beneficiaries, excluding students with disabilities, will receive their allowances directly through the NSFAS bank card from June 2023 onwards.
