Who qualifies for NSFAS?
The National Student Financial
Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is an entity of the higher education department. Its purpose is to fund the tertiary studies of disadvantaged students. According to the scheme, it has funded about four million students since its inception.
A student must have been accepted at a university or a Technical and Vocational Education and Training college to receive funding. Before 2018, NSFAS was a loan scheme; students would have to pay it back once their studies were complete.
However, in December 2017, former president Jacob Zuma announced that the scheme had turned into a bursary scheme.
But the people who NSFAS funded before 2017 still have to pay back the loan.
Students whose household income is below R350 000 per year qualify for NSFAS. For students living with a disability, the combined income must not be more than R600 000 per annum for them to qualify for the scheme. Students who are beneficiaries of the South African Social Security Agency also qualify to be funded.
Once a student has received the funding, they need not reapply, as they are automatically funded for the duration of their studies.
However, in cases where a student fails to excel academically, they face losing the funding. But NSFAS, through its N+2 rule, makes provision for students who might fail or for whatever reason might not finish their studies in record time. For instance, if a degree takes up to three years, the scheme allows you to finish it in five years, but it can no longer fund you after five years.
Even if you have changed a course or an institution, NSFAS
cannot fund a student for more than five years.
Over and above tuition fees, the scheme also pays for accommodation, provides for textbooks, transport, living and personal care allowance. The scheme pays for private accommodation for those students who do not stay on campus, but the rent must not exceed the institution’s residence fees. Students who stay off-campus receive the transport allowance.