By Tenisha Taylor
Seven months into the academic year, NSFAS is yet to confirm SU’s 2026 migration process, leaving affected students and the university uncertain about funding.
Stellenbosch University (SU) is still awaiting formal confirmation from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) that its 2026 migration process has been completed. The university has advanced allowances to affected students, while some students are still waiting for clarity on their funding and outstanding fees.
2026 NSFAS migration
Migration means the transfer of a student’s NSFAS funding from one academic year to the next, provided they meet the relevant funding requirements. This process also transfers the student’s profile to the list of funded students for that academic year.
Martin Viljoen, SU’s Media Manager, told Die Matie that the university “has not yet received final confirmation from NSFAS that the migration process has been completed”. He said SU “remains dependent on the official migration information supplied by NSFAS” and will “continue to engage NSFAS until the final migration outcomes have been confirmed”.
Viljoen said that 487 students were initially identified as non-migrated, but as the process progressed, “427 confirmed migrated students had their allowances brought up to date following the Chief Director: Finance’s approval to advance these payments from the University’s budget while NSFAS finalises the migration process”.
However, SU said the matter cannot yet be regarded as fully concluded because it has not received formal confirmation from NSFAS.
What caused the delays?
The cause of the outstanding migrations is disputed by NSFAS and SU.
In response to enquiries from Die Matie, NSFAS attributed the delays to incorrect allowance claims submitted by SU. NSFAS said that, after manually migrating several SU students at the beginning of the year, it “identified students who were blocked because of a 2025 exception”.
NSFAS said SU submitted “incorrect allowance claims” despite “Circular No. 8 of 2025”, which instructed institutions to claim only two months’ worth of allowances. NSFAS said “as a result, the affected students were blocked by the system and were excluded from the migration process”.
NSFAS said the matter “was communicated to the institution, and SU was requested to correct the allowance claims to enable the affected students to be processed”.
However, NSFAS did not provide Die Matie with specific answers on why the affected students had not been migrated earlier, whether similar problems occurred at other universities or if an internal review had been conducted. NSFAS also did not provide a timeline for when the outstanding migration process would be formally concluded.
SU’s role in migration
Kallie Sauls, Head of Statutory Funds at SU, said the university had already uploaded its allowance claims when NSFAS issued Circular No. 8, which required the claims to be adjusted. He said that “it was not incorrect allowances per se, it was an adjustment that was required based on Circular 8.”
Sauls explained to Die Matie that SU submits registration data to NSFAS, which assesses the information before it is processed for payment. Where NSFAS identifies issues, including problems with qualification codes or allowance amounts, students can be placed on an exclusion report. The report is then sent back to the university, which is required to correct the relevant information.
Sauls said the adjustment required by Circular No. 8 was completed in February after SU became aware of it. Sauls said, “The communication was received and we acted upon it,” adding that “it was done in February”.
NSFAS said the students were excluded from migration because of SU’s incorrect allowance claims. However, it did not specify when the issue was identified, when SU’s adjustments were processed or why the migration remained outstanding months later.
Student perspective
On 16 July, Pulane Mtshali, Students’ Representative Council (SRC) Chairperson, released a statement on the publicly accessible WhatsApp group “NSFAS migration issue”, apologising for the “lack of communication regarding the NSFAS migration issue that is currently affecting students”. She said that the SRC arranged a meeting with SU and NSFAS “so we can come to a tangible solution”.
Despite Die Matie’s several attempts to arrange a follow-up interview with Mtshali, about the matter and the outcome of the SRC’s efforts, Mtshali did not confirm an interview with Die Matie.
For students affected by NSFAS funding issues, understanding their funding status has also been difficult. Two of the three students interviewed by Die Matie said they did not understand the term “migration” before being asked about it for this article, despite the process directly affecting their funding.
A fourth-year BEd student said that he only became aware that he was affected by the migration process after visiting SU’s temporary administration office in the inorganic Chemistry Building. He said he was “unsure if he is funded or not because of the lack of communication” from NSFAS. He said administration staff told him there was “nothing the office itself could do” about his migration status and that it was “just a matter of waiting and seeing what’s going to happen”.
The student said direct communication from NSFAS came “once or twice a year” and he would prefer “a personal email” from NSFAS explaining his funding status. “I would like to know what they are doing in order to overcome whatever status I’m in,” he said.
Die Matie also interviewed a final-year LLB student, who wishes to remain anonymous, said attempts to contact NSFAS directly had been unsuccessful. She said whenever she emailed, she received “no answers”, and when she called, “the line is always busy”. She said clearer communication would help students understand their funding status, adding “communication is the minimum” of what NSFAS students “expect”.
Kelly Standley, a fourth-year LLB student, said she had also received no direct communication from NSFAS. “I have never received anything from NSFAS. I have emailed – I do not even know how many people at this point,” she said.
Standley said her tuition fees and accommodation had not been paid by NSFAS since she first received funding in 2023. Her statement of account currently stands at R335 973, which she said is largely due to outstanding tuition and accommodation fees. “I hate getting my account statements every month. You just look at it and it’s like more debt and more debt,” she said.
Sauls also acknowledged communication challenges between NSFAS and SU. He told Die Matie, “I think it is not a secret, and if it is a secret, it is an open one. Communication is a challenge from NSFAS.”
He said the university expects NSFAS to communicate directly with students about changes to their funding. “We would expect the funder to inform the students because they make the decisions,” he said.
SU said it would continue advancing monthly allowances to affected students while it awaits formal confirmation from NSFAS.
This is a developing story. Die Matie will provide further updates as more information becomes available.
