Nearly 150 000 students left unfunded by Nsfas for 2021
NEARLY 150 000 students who have been accepted to further their studies at higher education institutions did not receive the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) funding for the 2021 academic year.
About 146 532 applications were rejected by the student aid body. Of these, 93 532 were from TVET colleges and 52 992 from universities.
A total of 22 014 university students were unfunded because they obtained their first undergraduate qualifications and 5 376 TVET college students were unfunded due to their academic pathways not funded as per the guidelines.
This was announced yesterday by Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande where he further said 22 649 university students and 140 TVET students exceeded the N+ rule, while 88 016 TVET students and 8 326 from university failed their 2020 academic year.
He said Nsfas ensures that financial aid reaches the right and deserving students timeously through the new bursary scheme.
“The Government’s vision is to ensure that all academically deserving students from poor and working-class backgrounds, who are admitted to studying at public universities and colleges, are provided with financial support to obtain their first undergraduate qualification.
“Our bursary guidelines are based on the principles that student funding policy must be fair, rational, affordable and implementable.”
Nzimande said policy decisions were made to ensure that students were provided with the best possible support to succeed, taking into account the different circumstances of institutions.
“The funding must also be affordable within the parameters of the funding provided by the government, with a focus on the need for sustainability of the scheme for the future,” said Nzimande.
He urged Nsfas together with all institutions to conduct information sessions with the South African National Student Union and all student representative councils on these guidelines so as to minimise the number of students who are unfunded or unsuccessful in their applications.