UNISA and NSFAS pass the buck!
On the 6th December 2013 I paid UNISA by Visa Card R2 580.00 for the registration of the 2014 study year. This amount reflects on my UNISA financial statement as Ref. No. 4903/049. On the 7th February 2014, NSFAS paid UNISA R2700.00, being the balance of my study fees for my first semester of 2014 (NSFAS had just started financing my studies). On the 19th July 2014 NSFAS paid R5200.00 to UNISA for the second semester, 2014. According to my records, NSFAS has now paid UNISA R7 900.00 for my study year 2014. NSFAS then paid for my text books with SBux totaling R737.00 thus totaling R8 637.00 for my 2014 NSFAS account. When I received my first ever statement from NSFAS in October 2016 I saw that they had set my loan amount for 2014 at R11 217.00. This was R2 580.00 more than what my and UNISA’s records show. I then called NSFAS (unfortunately I do not have proof of these phone calls) and was told to complain to the recoveries department via email. NSFAS then told me that the problem lies with UNISA as UNISA have not allocated all the funds to my account. NSFAS then said that I should go back to UNISA to query this problem. I visited UNISA, Parow, Cape Town on Thursday, 30/11/2017. I discussed the problem with the lady at the financial enquiries. She then printed out the latest statement of account. She said that the problem lies with NSFAS as UNISA has allocated all funds paid by NSFAS to my account. I then visited NSFAS after I had left UNISA on Thursday, 30/11/2017. I spoke to Xolani, a team leader, who asked for the email correspondence that I had with NSFAS. After I forwarded all the information to Xolani he told me that I had to return to UNISA as the problem lies with UNISA. I was to call him when I was at UNISA, Parow and Xolani said that he would speak to UNISA to tell them that they owed me a credit. All this to and fro is very frustrating and confusing as I know that I have paid the amount of R2 580.00 to UNISA but I am not sure how to rectify this problem. It is not fair, nor ethical that I am expected to pay this amount again, which is what NSFAS is telling me according to their statements. I have also submitted written complaints to the Unisa Ombudsman on 05 December 2017 and the Credit Ombudsman on 27 April but nobody has gotten back to me.
