More than R650 million of National Student Financial Aid Scheme funds set aside for grants‚ in the form of allocations for loans and bursaries‚ was unutilised for the current year ending in March. This is according to a parliamentary reply to a question submitted by the Democratic Alliance’s Prof Belinda Bozzoli.

“It is unfathomable that while 8.2 million South Africans are without work‚ or having given up looking‚ young people are being denied opportunities to study because the Department cannot get the available funding available to those who need it‚” she said in a statement.

Furthermore‚ in the last financial year almost R750 million was unutilised‚ she asserted.

“In trying to justify this sorry state of affairs‚ (Higher Education) Minister (Blade) Nzimande cited the current allocation method whereby funds are allocated to a university based on a formula.

“This could result in a situation where some universities have not spent their allocation and only notify NSFAS of this late in the financial year‚ at which stage it may not be possible to fund other students‚ as the academic year has ended.”

He said the appropriateness of this formula and model was one of the factors that has resulted in the new student-centred model‚ where the money follows the student rather than the institution.

Bozzoli said the Department of Higher Education should account for itself in justifying the gigantic amount of unutilised NSFAS funds.

“Minister Nzimande should also present to Parliament a detailed report on how the new student-focused allocation system will improve on the current one. Prospective students can no longer be excluded from higher education institutions due to the inefficiency of NSFAS and the Department of Higher Education.”