Thousands of E Cape students receive funding

MORE than 24 700 students studying at Eastern Cape universities have been granted funding, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme announced this week.

Spokesman Kagiso Mamabolo said: “We have approved more than 24 791 returning students who are studying in the Eastern Cape institutions and the number will continue [rising].”

The announcement comes soon after University of South Africa’s (Unisa) chief executive Professor Ahmed Bawa confirmed that the university had received official confirmation from NSFAS that “it is likely that some 235 000 students will receive NSFAS grants this year.

“This is significantly higher than the 176 000 students funded in 2016,” Bawa said.

Bawa said according to a commitment NSFAS made for 2017, all first-entry students who applied for financial aid and who come from quintiles 1, 2, and 3 schools and where family income was dependent on a South African Security Services Agency (Sassa) grant, would qualify for financial aid.

Mamabolo said the list of successful NSFAS students showed that “there are 5 494 first-year students for Eastern Cape institutions”.

Bawa said they had also received confirmation that the scheme sent out 46 000 text messages last Friday informing first-year students countrywide that they would receive funding this year.

“This is an important achievement taking into account the backlogs that have developed at NSFAS,” said Bawa.

NSFAS will support all students who received financial aid in 2016; passed 50% of modules and had signed NSFAS application loan agreement forms. — zineg@dispatch.co.za