By Tenisha Taylor and Leah Falcon
Background
Despite classes starting on 10 February in 2025 at Stellenbosch University (SU), the annual living and accommodation allowances (“caps”) for 2025 were only confirmed in April. The caps were confirmed by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), a government entity managed by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training.
During the interim period before NSFAS’s announcement, Prof Nicola Smit, acting Chief Operating Officer at Stellenbosch University (SU), said in an interview with Die Matie, “To ensure students had funds for accommodation and living costs from the start of the academic term, SU advanced allowances from University funds already in January 2025, so that students in private accommodation could pay their rent and have access [to] living allowances.”
Prof Smit continued to say, “As we had no knowledge of what the NSFAS cap would be, SU paid these allowances based on the previous year’s caps. Therefore, we paid the January to April allowances using the 2024 caps, which were lower than the 2025 caps that were announced in April 2025. When NSFAS announced the 2025 caps in April, SU went back and corrected or topped up those earlier payments to match the new approved NSFAS allowance cap amounts.”
This has resulted in confusion for some students as communication regarding the updated 2025 caps only reached students in April. Accordingly, payments were adjusted upwards or downwards requiring some students to pay back misallocated funds. Smit also acknowledged that there have been some delays with the payment of NSFAS allowances. WhatsApp groups organised by NSFAS students to help circulate this information have been forums for students to share their distress and how the uncertainty affects their studies.
Prof Smit said, “SU continuously engages with NSFAS to emphasise the need for early and accurate information and communication. Regular communication is sent to all NSFAS bursary holders, informing them of any changes as soon as this information is received from NSFAS. We have also scheduled targeted information sessions with groups of affected students with great success. The SU NSFAS team hosted eight information sessions which provide personalised feedback to students, and we encourage students to attend these sessions.” However, third-year Social Work student Nonhlanhla Mkhasibe says that “when there [had] been changes that the university was aware of, they would not communicate them immediately.” She goes on to say, “we would find out through our own queries and visits to the [Administration] building […] and would only be notified by the university when [they received] an influx of queries.”
NSFAS allowances for 2025
These tables indicate the 2025 NSFAS annual allowance breakdown per living arrangement – as determined by NSFAS:
Addressing the turnaround time
“To speed things up, the Student Finances team at the University added part-time staff and also asked affected students to log a call at the Student Finance Service Helpdesk so we could track and resolve each query,” Smit said. Since some cases were unique due to personal circumstances, for example, registration changes, changed banking details, or changes in accommodation or lease arrangements, SU had to resolve several queries on a case-by-case basis.
SU has recruited additional staff members to increase capacity to address the backlog of logged calls, also known as Jira tickets (internal requests submitted on the university’s Service Desk to report and track administrative or funding-related issues). This is to meet SU’s commitment to resolve issues within a maximum of ten working days. By October 2025, the delegated staff dealing with queries related to NSFAS and student funding included two bursary coordinators at the Student Finance client front desk, eight consultants, and ten student assistants.
To help students navigate any future uncertainties, students are requested to:
- Check their Intellimali statements and review the payment descriptions.
- Log a Jira ticket under the correct category on the Student Finances online platform if something seems incorrect regarding payments and allowances.
- Keep their banking and contact details updated on their student profile to avoid delays.
- Ensure that the correct lease agreement is uploaded on the system.
In addition to this, these are the steps to log a call at the Student Finance Service Helpdesk:
- Copy this link in your internet browser. Open the link and follow the steps: https://servicedesk.sun.ac.za/jira/servicedesk/customer/user/login?destination=portals
- Always choose “Log in with SU account” when you log in.
- Click on Student Finances.
- Click on Undergraduate Bursaries. Then click on NSFAS Enquiries.
- Complete the form and submit. Take note of the Student Funding Directorate (DSF) number – that is the ticket reference number of the call that you have logged.
Further information can be found on the following platforms:
- Stellenbosch University Centre for Undergraduate Bursaries and Loans – https://finaid.sun.ac.za/
- Bursaries and Loans Yearbook for 2026 – https://files.su.ac.za/public/registrars-division/documents/2025-08/bursariesandloans-1pdf.pdf
- Student Finances Client Services – 021 808 3530 or log a ticket via the Student Finance Service Helpdesk
Arrangements for “missing middle” students
The missing middle, people who earn too much for government aid but not enough to afford higher education, is a common blindspot for support systems like NSFAS. According to Smit, from her interview with Die Matie, SU has been able to increase the accommodation of students who fall outside of the NSFAS bracket (students who come from a household with an annual income of R0 to R350 000) to R600 000. This has allowed more students to qualify for SU funding and bursaries and to benefit from bursary support from SU partners, Smit said.
“We have increased our emergency fund budget to support more qualifying students who may find themselves in crises. SU is also partnering with more philanthropic organisations to provide wraparound support with their bursary support,” Smit said.
She added that “in direct response to the increasing evidence of food insecurity among students funded by NSFAS, SU introduced an affordable meal option intervention during the second semester of 2024. This structured initiative was specifically developed to ensure that all NSFAS-funded students, both those residing in catered residences and those studying on campus, have reliable access to nutritious, balanced meals at a fixed and affordable daily rate.”
Conclusion
While the past year brought significant delays, system changes, and uncertainty for many NSFAS-funded students, SU’s efforts to clear the backlog, expand support structures and increase transparency mark some progress. SU acknowledged that challenges remain – particularly regarding communication and turnaround times. While improvements to the system are ongoing, including additional staff capacity, broader funding coverage for missing middle students, and the introduction of more accessible communication channels, problems persist. As the 2026 academic year begins, thousands of NSFAS-funded students will once again be depending on NSFAS and SU to fulfil their duties and overcome these problems.
