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PAY BACK THE (STUDENT) MONEY

The National Financial Aid Scheme (NFAS) has been setting collections agents on students who have just graduated. Yes, a few students were able to actually write and pass despite all the recent chaos in the educations system. While collecting on debt may seem normal, many of the harassed students don’t even have jobs yet.

It is a fairly well-known statistic that those completing higher education are currently finding it the hardest to get a job in South Africa right now. This group of highly unemployed people face a lot of stress. With student debts accumulated, it places further stress on graduates who face the expectations of their peers and family. Now being added to the mix are collections agents calling these graduates demanding repayment on their student loans. In some cases, it seems, perhaps more than one collection agent assigned to the same graduate demanding repayments begin. Repayments these graduates cannot realistically make. Payments they are actually not obligated to make yet.

student debtStudents taking NFAS loans have normally, contractually agreed to repay their loan once they start working in the area for which they have studied. According to an NFAS spokesperson, the scheme is currently owed R14.7 Billion but that they do not “blacklist” anyone who owes them money. [This is easily explained since blacklisting no longer exists anyway.] However, the NFAS spokesperson went on to say that their debtors only need to begin to make repayments once they earn a minimum of R30 000 a year and are registered with SARS.

Despite this claim, many former students say they are being contacted with demands for repayment on these loans while they have no means to do so. Could it just be over eager collections agents operating without instructions or is it a desperate effort to improve cash flow?