Students must re-pay their loans

Sowetan

12-Jan-2011 | Anna Majavu


THE National Student Financial Aid Scheme says students who have borrowed money must repay their loans

President Jacob Zuma announced on Saturday that, from this year on, needy final- year students who qualified for NSFAS loans would be given enough money to cover their fees and living expenses.

Students had complained in the past that their loans did not provide money for food and transport, leading many to drop out.

Zuma also said if final-year students passed, their NSFAS loans would be converted into bursaries which they would not have to repay.

Yesterday NSFAS quickly moved to put a damper on student hopes that they would all get full loans this year.

"There appears to be some confusion regarding the announcement on the status of existing and new NSFAS loans and the responsibility of students to repay their debt obligations," said NSFAS chief executive Ashley Seymour.

He said people who had borrowed from the NSFAS must start making repayments if they were now earning R2500 or more a month.

He said final year students benefiting from Zuma's new scheme would still have to repay money borrowed in their first and second years.

NSFAS spokesperson Bonny Feldman said that while NSFAS recommends that students get a maximum of R54,000 a year to cover all their costs, this decision lay with the universities.