Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study was about the change of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) administration system from a decentralised to a centralised one. The aim was to investigate the shift of the NSFAS administration system and its effect on the students' academic progress and overall well-being in the learning process at a historically Black university in the Western Cape Province. The study had three objectives. Firstly, to examine the efficacy of the NSFAS centralised application process. Secondly, to determine the impact of the process on the students' academic progress and overall well-being in the learning process. Lastly, to propose recommendations for the streamlining of the application process so that the negative impact on the students' academic performance be minimised or prevented.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study investigated the administration of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for undergraduate students and its impact on the students' academic progress at a Historically Black University (HBU) in the Western Cape Province. It therefore dealt with the students' inability to fund their university education and the challenges they experienced because of the way in which NSFAS was administered at the university. The aim of the study was to investigate how the financial assistance received from NSFAS, or a lack thereof, impacted on the students' academic progress, and ultimately, their retention and success. The objective was to arrive at recommendations that could improve the process and enable the students to concentrate on their academic studies without financial stress and agony.

The dropout of students funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is a perennial problem in many higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa. Despite this, little research has been conducted to investigate this phenomenon, and this study sought to address this gap by investigating the dropout of NSFAS-funded students from HEIs in Northern Gauteng. The study adopted a qualitative methodology and a phenomenological design to explore the lived experiences of students who dropped out of HEIs. Thirty-one NSFAS-funded students, three senior management officials from three HEIs and one NSFAS senior official were purposively selected to form part of the study. Semi-structured interviews, document analysis and observations were utilised as reseach instruments and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was employed to analyse data. The findings of the study established that a lack of support for students, and personal, socioeconomic, institutional and health factors contributed to the dropout of students from HEIs. It was further established that the majority of students who dropped out did so because of the inefficient operations of NSFAS and the new student-centred model. The study also found that insufficient funding, late allocation of funds, stringent NSFAS requirements, lack of communication, late payment or nonpayment of allowances contributed to students’ dropout. To address these shortfalls, the study recommends that the student-centred model should be overhauled and replaced with an integrated system including departments such as DOH, SARS, DSD and DOL to identify students who are eligible for funding and assist in the efficient administration of NSFAS. It is further recommended that funding administered by both the national and provincial government departments be centralized and administred by the NSFAS to circumvent double dipping. Finally, it is recommended that students who fall within the R0 – R350,000 per annum household income category including SASSA beneficiaries be flagged by the system to automatically qualify for funding. / Educational Management and Leadership / D. Ed. (Education Management)