The Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) has announced that students will now be receiving their non-tuition fee on a monthly basis starting at the end of April 2023, instead of quarterly or sometimes two payments per year.

Speaking to the media here on Tuesday, NSFAF Acting Chief Executive Officer, Kennedy Kandume said students’ non-tuition fees will be divided by 12 months to determine their respective monthly stipends.

He explained the monthly stipend will commence with continuous students, while new applicants will receive it once their contracting process has been completed by signing the awarding contract by 19 June 2023.

He said students only receive the monthly stipend provided that the institutions of higher learning have submitted the students’ invoices, stressing there is an existing lack in the process of disbursement of funds due to late academic invoices submission.

“We need to know whether a particular student has passed and has progressed, so it’s only the institutions who will know and such information is passed to us before disbursement. The monthly payment will continue until such a time that the allocated non-tuition fee is exhausted,” he noted.

A total of 22 178 applicants have been awarded study loans from a total of 30 124 applications received for the 2023 academic year of which 15 807 applicants received loans for undergraduate programmes, 6 064 for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and 307 for postgraduate studies.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency