NSFAS offers students assistance in the form of Digital Learning Devices (DLD) that help students access the technological innovations implemented by the bursary scheme, something covered in this article.
How do I apply for a laptop from NSFAS?
South Africa has one of the highest smartphone penetration rates in the world, with ICASA recording 53.4 million smartphone subscriptions in September 2019, a couple of million shy of the country’s total population size.
Yet, despite these, smartphone devices, with the exception of high-end models, are ill-equipped to act as learning aids, which is why laptops are being offered to students.
This is, “Part of the government’s mission to ensure that challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic do not affect teaching and learning at higher education and training institutions.
The Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation directed NSFAS to procure learning devices for students to ensure that a blended learning methodology is realized.
The NSFAS Digital Learning Device Programme was then introduced.”
The application process for a laptop can at times appear to be rather daunting, so we’ll take you through the process, step-by-step.
You need to ensure that you are a continuing student at a TVET college funded by NSFAS who registered the previous year.
If you are studying at a university level, the rules are different as both first-time and continuing students can apply to receive a laptop.
Should you meet the abovementioned criteria, you must collect, complete, and submit a Digital Learning Device (DLD) form and submit it to a representative at your campus’s Financial Aid Office (FAD).
Once you have done this, proceed to order your laptop on the DLD online order portal via the NSFAS website.
You may be prompted to provide the name of the institution you are registered at, a contact number, an alternative contact number, and an alternative email address.
NSFAS and your institute of study will verify your details as you make your order.
Once the verification process has been completed an order for your laptop will be placed with NSFAS service providers to dispatch the device for delivery.
Once the laptop is ready, you will be contacted by the laptop service provider to arrange for the collection of the device.
Upon the successful delivery and collection of your laptop, ensure that you bring along a copy of your ID document and proof of academic registration or a student card from your institution.
When can I order a NSFAS laptop online?
The specifics and guidelines that underscore the process of ordering a laptop from NSFAS are determined by your institution of learning and the laws regarding learning aids set out by NSFAS.
For first-time university students studying towards a diploma, or continuing students well advanced in their academic tenure.
A laptop can be ordered from the moment you are accepted into a university and have your NSFAS application approved or anytime in between that and the end of your academic course.
The process is different for NSFAS-funded students studying at a TVET college.
In order to be eligible to receive a laptop as a TVET college student, you must be doing your second year, having already completed a full year prior to that in which you’ll order a laptop.
And you must have had your entire academic tenure funded by NSFAS too.
Who qualifies for a NSFAS laptop?
As the laptops and NSFAS’s prioritization of alternative, and thereby extension online learning methods came in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, disbursement of the laptops began for students enrolled in the 2020 academic year.
You must be registered at any one of South Africa’s public universities or a TVET college, and you must agree and sign the terms and conditions that come with the laptop.
You must also have never received a laptop from your university or college as a NSFAS-funded student during your academic tenure before this.
Do NSFAS students get laptops?
Yes, the laptops given out by NSFAS are intended to be used solely by beneficiaries of the bursary scheme, such is stated in the terms and conditions you are obliged to sign before being able to order a device from NSFAS’s online portal.
Should an individual or student not funded by NSFAS somehow manage to bypass the various safety measures designed to confirm they are indeed bursary recipients, said individual will be liable to criminal prosecution for theft.
In 2020, NSFAS published a tender calling for bids that would be able to deliver 730 000 laptops to students at university and TVET college. That number could increase within the coming years to accommodate new students.
