GETTING a student loan is no longer going to be a time consuming exercise, thanks to a pilot project launched at the University of Free State.

The UFS and Absa have launched a project enabling the bank to confirm whether students have registered and determine their funding requirements directly from the university.

Absa is the first bank to join the UFS and qualifications verification services company, QVS, in the project. The project will contribute to the UFS's endeavour to have a more user-friendly registration process.

Last year, the UFS's department of finance met banks that grant study loans to students, to introduce them to the on-line services of its QVS and the self-help quotation programme of the university.

The self-help quotation programme will immediately enable the bank to confirm whether students have registered and determine their funding requirements. This means loans can be approved faster.

UFS senior director finance Chris Liebenberg said: "The initiative promotes the university's endeavour to accomplish a more user-friendly registration process for students within a regulated environment where the students' information is protected.

"Furthermore, the workload of the university's personnel will be alleviated, because QVS's paperless and electronic system eliminates all manual transactions and all transactions are performed electronically."

QVS managing director Danie Strydom said: "In the past students had to obtain a letter from the university to confirm that they had registered. This had to be presented to the bank where the student had applied for a loan.

"Because of the partnership between QVS, Absa and the UFS, the bank is now able to verify electronically through our qualifications verification system that a student is registered."