The bursary scheme has put forward some new policy proposals that will affect the funding requirements, particularly for continuing students who are enrolled at public universities.
Currently students who come from a household with an income of less than R350 000 per annum will receive funding for university or college fees, as well as other expenses throughout the duration of their undergraduate studies.
According to the Nsfas, it has revised the financial eligibility threshold for university students who first registered prior to 2018.
As of the 2022 academic year, Nsfas has applied the household income threshold of R350,000 students to all students who apply for financial aid for the 2022 academic year and beyond.
However, the implementation of the above will not have a retrospective effect, as students who were denied funding in the 2021 academic year (or prior to this) whose household income was higher than R122,000 but below R350,000 will not qualify for financial aid retrospectively.
Nsfas has also adjusted the academic eligibility requirements for continuing student who are registered at a university.
All continuing students that were not a first-time entrant (FTEN) student in their previous academic term of study must meet the ongoing academic eligibility requirements in order to remain funded by the bursary scheme.
This includes students who first registered at a University in 2018 or later.
At a minimum, all continuing students must pass a number of specified courses, which is specified in the course pass rate table as they were not a FTEN student in 2022.
This course rate table will be evaluated annually, and this requirement will become effective as of the 2023 academic year.
Students who fail to meet this requirement will be allowed to appeal, subject to the appeal criteria as specified in this policy standard.
Find out more on bursaries and funding on the Bursaries Portal.
