The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has called on all NSFAS funded students, who are registered at a public university and Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges, to order laptops online.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, NSFAS said that the scheme is expecting its first batch of digital learning devices (laptops) for NSFAS funded students on 18 April 2021.
This follows a mandate from Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande.
NSFAS Chief Corporate Services Officer, Sibongile Mncwabe said that since the directive of the Minister, NSFAS has gone into several consultations with stakeholders to ensure the successful rollout of this process.
“Consultations with the university sector have neared completion allowing university NSFAS funded students to commence ordering their devices through our portal. We are speedily continuing with the TVET [ Technical and Vocational Education and Training] consultation to enable college NSFAS funded students to also submit their orders online,” Mncwabe said.
NSFAS has developed a student Digital Learning Device Online Order portal for qualifying NSFAS students to order their devices on the NSFAS website.
All NSFAS funded students who require a device can visit www.nsfas.org.za, click myNSFAS, and click the Online Order portal to place an order.
To complete the order, Mncwabe added that students need to agree to the terms and conditions.
To order, online students are required to provide the following:
- South African ID number;
- Student number, Contact details;
- Name of the institution they are registered at; and
- Campus name and home address.
Mncwabe noted that non-NSFAS funded students who require a device should consult their institutions “as they will remain responsible for the payment of the device and must therefore agree to the payment terms as defined by the institution.”
“Further updates on progress will be communicated in the coming weeks,” Mncwabe said.