During a briefing on Monday morning, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) provided updates on the registration process, payment of NSFAS allowances, and the student accommodation pilot project. Prof. Lourens Van Staden, Acting Chairperson of NSFAS, revealed that the organization has been processing around 23,000 applications per day, prioritizing those who have firm offers from universities and TVET Colleges.
When NSFAS applications closed on 15 February, more than 1.9 million applications had been submitted on the NSFAS student portal. Among these applications:
- 1.2 million applicants have been provisionally funded
- 108,345 registrations have been received
- 59,723 applications are awaiting evaluation
- 94,816 applications are awaiting supporting documents
- 84,225 NSFAS applications were withdrawn
- 52,038 applications are in progress
- 130,468 applications are in the 'non-started' status, indicating applicants who created a myNSFAS profile but did not apply
- 234,113 applications were rejected
2024 NSFAS Appeals
NSFAS disclosed that out of the nearly 2 million NSFAS applications received on the NSFAS portal, 234,113 were rejected. Rejected applicants have the opportunity to submit a NSFAS appeal for reconsideration.
As of 1 March, NSFAS has received 15,174 NSFAS appeals. Applicants have 30 days from their rejection date to submit an appeal.
NSFAS Missing Middle Loans
2024 marks the first year that NSFAS offers missing middle loans to students who do not qualify for NSFAS funding. When NSFAS loan applications closed on February 15, the financial aid scheme received 30,728 NSFAS loan applications.
We have pre-assessed and identified students who are eligible for the loan. Communication has been sent to these students via the student portal to confirm whether they accept NSFAS to process their loan application.
Van Staden disclosed that the next step for NSFAS is to communicate with institutions to request the submission of admission data for registered students. A total of 31,008 missing middle students will be provided with student loans, covering both undergraduate and postgraduate studies.
70% of these loans will be allocated for STEM qualifications, while the remaining 30% will be targeted towards social sciences qualifications.
