Date : 15 January 2025
From : South African Medical Students Union (SAMSU)
Subject : Calls for NSFAS to honour January allowances
Dear Colleagues,
The South African Medical Students Union (SAMSU) celebrates a landmark achievement in the fight for student funding reforms, as NSFAS has confirmed early disbursement of
allowances to universities for all funded students across various careers. For the first time, students will receive their first allowances at the beginning of February, a
significant departure from the historical delays which often extended into late February or early March.
SAMSU welcomes this breakthrough as a victory for all students, achieved through
persistent advocacy. We extend our gratitude to Universities South Africa (USAf) and its CEO, Dr. Phethiwe Matutu, as well as the South African Committee of Medical Deans (SACOMD) chairperson, Prof. Zukiswa Zingela, for their unwavering support. USAf has affirmed its commitment to SAMSU’s call for NSFAS to align allowances with the full academic year, ensuring 12 months of living and accommodation allowances for students.
NSFAS’s decision to make early advance payments to universities by 10 January 2025 is a direct response to SAMSU’s call for reform. This step ensures that institutions are equipped to distribute first allowances to students promptly at the start of the registration period, mitigating the unrest and hardships caused by delayed disbursements in previous years.
While this progress is commendable, SAMSU reiterates its call for January allowances to be distributed to medical students before the end of the month. As health professions students commence their academic year as early as 2 January, it is imperative that they receive support aligned with their academic calendar. SAMSU maintains that students
must not only receive their first allowances on time but that NSFAS must implement 12month allowances to reflect the reality of a full academic year for medical students.
To this end, SAMSU’s Branch Leadership Teams across the ten universities offering
medicine (UL, SMU, UP, WITS, UFS, UKZN, WSU, NMU, SU, and UCT) will engage their
respective finance offices to ensure they are aware of this directive. Deans of all medical schools have also been informed to support SAMSU in advocating for this essential right to health and education.
This historic reform would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of SAMSU and the legacy of the 2015 #FeesMustFall generation, which championed the progressive transformation of NSFAS funding to ensure access to free, quality education for all.
SAMSU remains steadfast in its mission to ensure that every medical student and every NSFAS-funded student in South Africa receives the support they are entitled to. We call on NSFAS to immediately address the outstanding issue of January allowances for medical students and honour the principle of equitable access to education.
