Challenges Faced by National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) Graduates in Repaying Loans and Debt: A Content Analysis

Abstract

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) serves as a pivotal mechanism to counteract higher education disparities in South Africa. This pivotal mechanism plays a crucial role in levelling the playing field, ensuring that financial constraints do not hinder individuals from pursuing higher education. However, in recent years, NSFAS has faced challenges, including unpaid loans from graduates, reduced funding for current students, and an ongoing corruption crisis. These issues hamper NSFAS's ability to provide essential financial support, underscoring the need for immediate reforms and strategic interventions. This article aims to scrutinise the challenges encountered by graduates of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in the process of repaying loans and managing debt. Utilising qualitative content analysis, the researcher draws insights from diverse sources such as academic journals, books, reports, and theses, accessed through platforms like Google Scholar, Science Direct, ResearchGate, NSFAS, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) reports, and Council on Higher Education (CHE) reports. The findings spotlight the considerable impact of unemployment on the repayment capacity of South African graduates with NSFAS loans. In the face of a challenging economic milieu and heightened unemployment rates, recent graduates encounter formidable obstacles in attaining financial stability. The conclusion underscores the imperative for collaborative efforts to address these challenges, acknowledging their deep-seated connection to historical inequities and their exacerbation by contemporary economic dynamics. It advocates for a holistic and sustainable restructuring of the higher education financing system, aiming not only to benefit individual graduates but also to contribute to the broader goal of socio-economic transformation within the nation.