The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has received an injection of R1.7-billion, from unallocated funds recovered by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and which will be returned to the purse for higher education students.

SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago explained that the money came from R2-billion that the SIU had so far received from universities, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges and unqualified former students.

The funds in question were unallocated from 2016 to 2021 and represent financial resources that were designated for students who qualified for funding but later changed institutions or deregistered.

“These funds are retained by the institution for one year, but in this case were kept for more than a year.

“The existence of unallocated funds can be attributed to inadequate control systems and a lack of reconciliation processes implemented by NSFAS during that period, resulting in a failure to recover these funds from institutions of higher learning,” Kganyago explained.

In contributing to the R2-billion recovery, the SIU collected R126 478 184.64 from 1 055 parents and unqualified NSFAS beneficiaries who signed Acknowledgments of Debt and agreed to repay the money over time.

The SIU is urging unqualified NSFAS beneficiaries who have not been in contact with the unit to come forward and arrange for repayment.

“Furthermore, the SIU has received R69 727 824.22 from the University of the Free State. This is the institution’s second payment towards recovering unallocated funds. The SIU has also received a second payment from the University of Mpumalanga of R 5 502 040.09, as well as R15-million from Tshwane North TVET College,” Kganyago revealed.

Meanwhile, the SIU has noted the announcement by NSFAS earlier this month that it will implement the SIU’s systematic recommendations by introducing a framework that includes a data-driven reporting process to ensure timely payments to providers.

The framework will improve “accountability, generating monthly occupancy and payment reports”, Kganyago said.

NSFAS is also considering an in-house payment functionality to streamline financial management and eliminate the middleman.