The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) provides bursaries to deserving students from poor and working-class families in South Africa.
In recent years, Nsfas divided bursary applicants into five cohorts to provide quicker funding decisions. The scheme explained that this provided them with the opportunity to communicate with students immediately around their funding.
In the past, Nsfas would only communicate with students once the application dates closed. Nsfas provided funding decisions to indivials who fell in Cohort 1 and concluded with individuals who fell within Cohort 5.
These Nsfas Cohorts Are:
- First-Time Entering Student (FTEN) who are South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) beneficiaries (Cohort 1)
- A Returning Student, who are also Sassa beneficiaries. (Cohort 2)
- A First-Time Entering Student who are not Sassa beneficiaries (Cohort 3)
- A Returning Student, who are also not Sassa beneficiaries. (Cohort 4)
- A students living with disability (Cohort 5)
New students who are beneficiaries of a Sassa grant will immediately qualify for Nsfas funding. They will skip right through the financial eligibility stage.
Returning students who are Sassa grant beneficiaries will not immediately qualify for funding but won’t undergo financial checks. Nsfas will instead check whether you have a previous qualification or not. This as Nsfas will only fund one qualification.
The Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant was introduced by Sassa to provide unemployed individuals with some financial assistance. The grant is provided for people above the age of 18 and under the age of 59 years old.
Recipients of the SRD grant qualify for Nsfas, but once they are approved for a Nsfas bursary, they will no longer be able to receive the SRD grant.
