Cape Town - The University of the Western (UWC) students are complaining about the late distribution of allowances, with the Student Representative Council (SRC) saying first-year students are going hungry.
UWC spokesperson Gasant Abarder said allowances were being disbursed to all qualifying students. However, he said that due to Covid-19 it was now required that the banks check the bank details before they could be loaded on to the system.
Abarder said that this lengthened the process. He said they were unable to confirm how many students had received their allowances because it was an ongoing process.
He said they were in constant communication with students regarding allowances.
“Students are advised to contact the Financial Aid Office. Additionally, general communications are released to keep students informed,” said Abarder.
He said the Nutrition and Wellness Project was assisting students whose allowances had not been processed with grocery packs.
UWC’s SRC secretary-general, Bulumko Mpambani, said many first-year students had not submitted their banking details, and others had submitted banking details that were not their own.
Mpambani said that, sadly, others did not even have bank accounts yet, and those issues may seem small but they were affecting the distribution of allowances.
He said students would receive allowances today, as per the normal process, and they must also remember that the SRC did not have access to who was in the funded list.
“We urge all first-year students as a matter of urgency to submit your banking details. If you have submitted the banking details of your next of kin, relative or anyone else, we advise you to resubmit the form to the Financial Aid Office with your own banking details.”
The Cape Argus asked the National Student Financial Aid Scheme whether student allowances had been disbursed to all students in time, but it had not responded by the time of publication.