South African Union for Students (SAUS) had asked the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for an extension due to the high volume of calls, received from prospective students and student leaders complaining that the system was down. This meant that too many people were accessing the student portal, whilst trying to apply for NSFAS.
Some students expressed concern over no responses from NSFAS, whereas there were also cases of students who had incorrectly uploaded documents.
Some students mentioned how they initially thought their applications went through, only to realise that their applications hadn’t gone through. All of this was a detriment to the Scheme’s website.
SAUS President Yandiswa Ndzoyiya said:
We're trying to assist those peers, to make sure that when the academic year, starts there are no challenges for students that have not applied for funding.
To receive assistance from the student organisation, prospective students are encouraged to apply first, even though they might not think that they qualify - they’ll receive a reference for NSFAS which will make the process easier when assisting you.
The two-week extension from NSFAS will allow students to apply without making further mistakes and also give them a chance to rectify previous mistakes.
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