Erratic payments from NSFAS blamed for growing online gambling problem amongst students

Higher education committee chairperson, Tebogo Letsie, said that while he does not condone students using their financial aid money to gamble, the erratic payments from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) were backing students into a corner.

A recent Daily Maverick investigation revealed that students were among the growing online gambling population in South Africa, many using their student allowances in efforts to make ends meet.

At a briefing at Parliament on Monday, Letsie said while he sympathised with the plight of many students, online gambling was not the answer.

With tertiary institutions drawing the line on students with outstanding tuition who could face not being allowed to register for next year, Letsie said that NSFAS has to improve on their payment system.

He said that many students were forced to make alternative plans when their allowances didn’t get paid on time, often borrowing money and attempting to make more by gambling.

"Many of these students don’t only take this allowance to care of themselves, some of them, or many of them, also support their families at home. That’s a reality."

Letsie said that by not paying students on time, NSFAS was contributing to the online gambling problem.

"It’s the system that we’ve created that creates this problem for ourselves. So, to get rid of these things, NSFAS must distribute allowances on time."

Letsie said while concerning, online gambling among students was not unique to South Africa, with recent studies in the United Kingdom also showing an increasing trend, often due to economic hardship.