The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) confirmed that over R5 billion was allocated to more than 40,000 students who were not eligible for National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) support between 2018 and 2021, with failures in means testing and missing parental income details allowing ineligible recipients to access grants.

SIU Investigation And Recovery Efforts

The SIU reported that these students, spread across 76 higher education institutions, exceeded the household income limit of R350,000, which is the threshold for NSFAS support eligibility. In its statement, the SIU said, “The SIU’s investigations have so far revealed that more than 40,000 students in 76 institutions of higher education have been possibly funded incorrectly.”

NSFAS has started defunding these ineligible students and is working to recover misallocated funds. According to an NSFAS statement, “This is information that Nsfas shared with the SIU and covers earlier academic years up to 2019. This is based on cases where applicants falsified their application information to unduly benefit from the scheme.”

Institutional Response And Ongoing Recovery

As part of the recovery process, the University of Johannesburg returned R311 million in unallocated NSFAS funds intended for students who changed institutions or deregistered between 2016 and 2021. The SIU has also facilitated the return of around R38.3 million from three TVET colleges and stated it has restored R1.7 billion to the NSFAS purse to be redirected to students’ needs.

The SIU urged institutions to cooperate with the recovery, stating, “The SIU encourages all institutions of higher learning to come forward and pay back unallocated funds that are due to NSFAS.” These actions follow extensive investigations launched in September 2022, with a preliminary report presented to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts in April 2023 outlining the scale of misallocation.

SIU and NSFAS recovery initiatives are ongoing, with further returns of funds expected as more institutions audit their allocations and work to ensure aid flows only to deserving students.