What will happen to NSFAS accommodation in 2023?

Potchefstroom property owners and managers, as well as parents and students, are worried about the plan of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to be a more active player in the handling of student accommodation on South Africa’s public university campuses, including the housing facilities on offer to NSFAS students studying or planning to study at North-West University (NWU) in 2023.

The lack of information about a new plan and concern about the administrative capabilities of NSFAS to manage the envisaged accommodation, which could include dealing with leases and payments for 2023, have left many landlords and their tenants in the dark – and frustrated.

NSFAS, which paid about R12 billion towards student housing in 2021, wants a more uniform system because of concerns over fraud, poor living conditions, deviations in rent and inconsistent accreditation processes across university campuses.

Following its National Student Accommodation Summit in June 2022 a plan emerged to develop a grading system that would look at the quality of accommodation and that this grading would possibly inform the rent charged, thereby standardising rates.

As part of the plan NSFAS may take over the ‘middleman’ role that higher education institutions, including the NWU, have played in the accreditation of students’ living facilities.

Herman Steyn, the Director of Finance at the NWU, said the role NSFAS therefore envisages is not only to standardise the rent, but also to be involved in lease agreements and the settlement of accommodation allowances to service providers.

But NSFAS’ plan does not appear to have gathered adequate momentum and has caused delays in the NWU’s accreditation of accommodation for 2023. It is also affecting NSFAS students’ abilities to enter into contracts.

Steyn explained that the NWU currently has 1600 accredited addresses on its database across its campuses and NSFAS (at the time of writing) has not obtained the list from the university to implement its envisaged processes.

Although most real estate agencies will still be signing lease agreements with NSFAS students, according to Cathleen Joubert, the housing manager at Potch Properties, the agency will not be signing any contracts with students, for now, due to uncertainties in the 2023 accommodation process.

To provide some form of clarity to service providers, the NWU management has decided to continue with accommodation accreditation processes for 2023, based on the guidelines of 2022, according to Steyn. To that end, the NWU accreditation process only commenced on 1 November.

Potch Properties’ decision not to sign contracts with NSFAS beneficiaries was introduced as a measure to minimise the risk for its property owners (despite the NWU’s decision to commence with the accreditation process).

“The sad thing is that this means that student housing, that could have gone to NSFAS students, is being filled” Joubert added.

Agencies such as Century 21 and Big Real Estate are still accepting NSFAS students.

Ashanté Scott, a real estate agent at Big Real Estate says that although definite arrangements for accreditation in 2023 are still uncertain, it was a wise decision from the NWU to proceed with the accreditation process.

NSFAS’ slow pace in solving issues regarding student accommodation has not gone unnoticed.

According to Careers Portal, at its National General Council held at the University of Mpumalanga, which took place from 10 to 12 November, the South African Union of Students (SAUS) proclaimed their support for NSFAS’ decision to introduce a grading system, but also called on NSFAS to finally solve long-standing issues of student accommodation.

According to Steyn meetings were also held on 28 November 2022 and more clarity regarding the process forward has been given.

However, official NSFAS guidelines still have to be approved by the office of the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Dr Blade Nzimande.

Malise van Sittert, a third-year student on the NWU Potchefstroom campus, said that she would feel much more comfortable if NSFAS does not take over the accommodation process. Especially seen that this change has come at the eleventh hour.

“At this moment whenever I have queries about my NSFAS funds regarding accommodation, I know exactly who to contact and that they will provide adequate assistance. I’m unsure if this would be the case if NSFAS controls the process”.

Joubert said the only communication regarding NSFAS they receive is through the NWU. According to Joubert, she also tried to contact NSFAS but was unable to reach anyone who could assist her.

Julia Kruger, the housing administrator at Potch Properties, said that she is unsure if NSFAS’s full involvement would be better or worse.

On the other hand, Sean Scott, the operations manager at Century 21, a property management company, was adamant that NSFAS should not be taking over the accreditation process. By Ruben Jooste