Funding Outcomes Remediation Process in Higher Education and Science Innovation

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A detailed account of the remediation process undertaken by the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science, and Innovation concerning funding outcomes for students. Issues such as processing gaps, hybrid applications, and missing parental relationships led to a review of funding decisions. The reevaluation resulted in reprocessing applications through academic eligibility criteria, leading to a significant number of students now being eligible for funding. Challenges, root causes, and solutions are explored in depth to ensure fair and accurate funding allocation.

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PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION, ON HIGHER EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND INNOVATION SCIENCE AND INNOVATION 06 SEPTEMBER 2023 1

UPDATE ON FUNDING AND ALLOWANCES TO STUDENTS 2

FUNDING UPDATE To date a total of 2 142 888 applications for funding were received covering both new and continuing students. 24% of these records were rejected, 62% approved for funding and 2.4% withdrawn. The rest are at different stages of processing largely due to missing information from students, 3rd parties, or institutions regarding results. 3

FUNDING OUTCOMES A remediation process was put in place after it became evident that the funding outcomes or students application statuses were not reflecting expected outcomes. This was evident in the concerns raised by the students, institutions and verified upon confirmation. This necessitated the review of all funding outcomes and there were instances were funded students were decided with limited information (relationship information) and students who were not funded but should have been funded. Some of the root causes to the funding outcome challenges include: Introduction of a new system for funding , any new system in its year of 1st implementation experiences challenges. Reliance on 3rd parties where certain relationships could not be verified for parental information. Which necessitated further review of parental information and checks against SARS. When additional parental information was received, the household income increased, and thus students no longer qualified. 4

FUNDING OUTCOMES It has been identified that there were 45,927 records that were funded and later unfunded because of processing gaps. There are 3 broad categories namely. Hybrid applications Missing parental relationships Latency data from HEMIS Hybrid Applications (continuing student that applied) affected 14 703 records where continuing students applied erroneously because of migrating from the old to the new system. In some instances, it was students panicking because they did not see their funding statuses and applied for funding. However, given that we cannot determine the reason why these students truly applied and the fact that there was the technical mishap, the remediation of these students was done as collective assuming these students did not need to apply. The only time a continuing student is expected to apply is when they are changing sectors. 5

FUNDING OUTCOMES Management decided that all Hybrid (Continuing Students) applications previously assessed through financial eligibility (FE) must be reprocessed through Academic eligibility (AE) only (and not taken through Financial Eligibility as it was previously done) as some of these students applied erroneously due to system migrating from the old to the new. This would mean all those 14 703 students that were rejected by FE would now be funded. The balance of 31 224 students remains not funded and this is due to the assessment of financial eligibility by picking up additional parental relationships and academic ineligibility. 6

FUNDING OUTCOMES Missing Parental Relationships There are first time entering students who were previously funded and later rejected because of additional parental relationships that were verified based on additional information sourced from third parties. Initially the student declared one parent or wrong parent which was not picked up at Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and as such a decision was made to fund. However, based on review this trend was picked up and through a relationship matrix that was built internally at NSFAS it was possible to pick up the additional parental relationship. This was exposed to SARS verification which came with the feedback that the combined family income exceeds the threshold. Academic Eligibility Assessment The academic eligibility review was incomplete which resulted in students being funded. This was due to latency issues on the data received from HEMIS which was incomplete, and this impacted the N+Rule. 7

FUNDING AND DISBURSEMENTS - TVET 8

FUNDING AND DISBURSEMENTS - UNIVERSITIES TOTAL ONBOARDING LIST PROVISIONALLY FUNDED 2023 REG DATA RECEIVED PENDING KYC % INSTITUTION NAME EXCEPTION KYC COMPLETED KYC COMPLETED % CARDS ISSUED PENDING KYC CAPE PENINSULA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY DURBAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY MANGOSUTHU UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY NELSON MANDELA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY NORTH-WEST UNIVERSITY RHODES UNIVERSITY SEFAKO MAKGATHO HEALTH SCIENC UNIVERSITY SOL PLAATJE UNIVERSITY TSHWANE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN UNIVERSITY OF FORT HARE UNIVERSITY OF FREE STATE UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU NATAL UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO UNIVERSITY OF MPUMALANGA UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND UNIVERSITY OF VENDA UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND VAAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY WALTER SISULU UNIVERSITY TOTAL 42,138 24,060 63,529 18,621 25,739 39,426 5,275 5,710 5,265 70,046 11,217 20,691 40,483 67,943 39,508 29,193 12,689 15,405 227,333 6,234 18,554 13,561 14,410 18,730 21,418 36,759 893,937 18,717 10,513 22,007 8,899 17,992 27,241 3,068 2,637 2,740 36,615 5,219 11,335 33,508 23,522 24,382 15,604 6,466 10,988 92,775 4,466 10,318 10,084 9,994 11,777 12,721 21,832 455,420 1,980 812 1,465 569 650 919 17,580 9,415 21,275 8,541 16,623 24,253 2,872 2,321 2,638 34,590 4,879 10,939 21,929 22,277 23,932 14,552 6,168 10,219 93,964 3,316 10,177 9,310 9,532 11,717 11418 21,076 425,513 16,932 8,627 20527 8,131 16,141 20,331 2,781 2,223 2,540 34241 4,549 6,174 20357 20,976 23,183 13809 5,970 9,848 62,847 2,996 9,129 8,173 9,424 11153 10,404 20,450 371,916 96% 92% 96% 95% 97% 84% 97% 96% 96% 99% 93% 56% 93% 94% 97% 95% 97% 96% 67% 90% 90% 88% 99% 95% 91% 97% 87 4,268 1,928 15256 4,634 4,471 14,221 648 788 748 410 482 3,922 4% 8% 4% 5% 3% 16% 3% 4% 4% 1% 7% 44% 7% 6% 3% 5% 3% 4% 33% 10% 10% 12% 1% 5% 9% 3% 13% 87 107 84 1,764 166 809 1,022 1,153 884 492 209 545 2,531 145 328 2,716 250 302 1,287 640 21,916 - 91 98 98 349 330 4,765 1,572 1,301 749 743 198 371 31,117 320 1,048 1,137 108 564 1,014 626 81,069 140 - 16181 3 4 10846 5,446 9,986 9150 424 6,511 - 863 2,320 5,057 4,907 5627 6737 2,751 131,731 9

UPDATE ON APPEALS 10

STATUS OF APPEALS To date NSFAS has received 170,683 appeals from FTEN and Returning students. These are a mixture of financial and academic eligibility appeals. NSFAS has concluded and funded 58,924 students of all appeals received and rejected 6,337 applicants. There are 28,971 appeals that are deemed invalid, and these consists of withdrawn, deleted and duplicated appeals. There is also a total of 44,561 appeals that are dependent on institutions to load results as well as applicants to upload missing information. There are also appeals in progress that need system dependency (7,927) and human dependency (23,963). 11

NSFAS QUERY SYSTEM 12

QUERY SYSTEM The move to adopt the Microsoft Digital Contact Centre Platform part of Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP Implementation underway represents a forward-looking and transformative step for NSFAS. This integration not only addresses the limitations of the contact centre existing solution but also positions NSFAS to harness cutting-edge technology in service of its stakeholders. By selecting a platform known for its reliability and adaptability, NSFAS demonstrates its commitment to enhancing customer experiences, empowering its workforce, and navigating the challenges of the modern business landscape and optimizing operational efficiency. This will be overlayered with the Enterprise or full WhatsApp functionality to activate the self-service capabilities 13

UPDATE ON THE LEAVE OF THE CEO 14

UPDATE ON THE LEAVE OF THE CEO The NSFAS Board appointed Werksman Incorporated to investigate allegations against the CEO and to review procurement systems and processes. Werksman Incorporated is currently on site conducting its investigation. 15

STUDENT ACCOMMODATION 16

UPDATE ON STUDENT ACCOMMODATION A total of 93 424 beds have been registered on the accommodation platform. 58 444 beds have been paid for on the platform. A total of 21 903 have been accredited. 4 TVET Colleges are participating in the test pilot and agreement on students that still require accommodation is in progress with the said institutions. At one institution, the pilot is advanced where students have even applied on the platform for the accredited accommodation. Fully pilot the programme in TVET Colleges in 2024 17

UPDATE ON RESPONSE TO STUDENTS MEMORANDUM 18

UPDATE ON RESPONSE TO STUDENTS MEMORANDUM NSFAS embarked on quarterly regional engagements with financial aid offices and SRC s in January 2023 for both TVET Colleges and universities. The aim of these sessions is to discuss challenges that institutions and students face on campus and how best to resolve these. New developments from NSFAS also form part of these discussions. Continuous engagements are held with SAUS, SATVETSA The investigation by the SIU is underway. NSFAS is looking into regional offices and the different funding models that could work. Management is working on a proposal for submission to the Board. The DHET is heading a task team that is looking into the R45 000 accommodation cap. NSFAS only funds up to the household income of R350 000 per annum and the funding of the missing middle is not within this scope. The 60 credits is one of the matters that can be looked at in the review of the 2024 NSFAS eligibility criteria and conditions for financial aid. NSFAS is engaging the direct payment partners about reviewing of the fees. 19

UPDATE ON 2024 APPLICATIONS 20

2024 APPLICATIONS NSFAS will take 72 hours to make funding decisions for all students. SASSA FTEN will continue to get immediate funding decision. There will be no manual applications. No Supporting Documents Required when applying Students Rejected for inability to verify parental relationships will have to appeal and submit relevant supporting documents that will be verified through an exception handling mechanism. 21

HOW TO APPLY Student created profile successfully Apply option available to student Student completes all required fields Receives OA reference number confirmation of application submitted. If student is rejected - unable to verify parental relationship, they will be required to provide (supporting document, declaration signed off by Principal) 22