While National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) student funding applications for the upcoming academic year are still open, the bursary scheme has also been keeping track of its processed applications.
According to the deputy higher education minister, Buti Manamela, the scheme has received over 1 million student applications.
To date, the scheme has received over 1 million applications and only 130 000 of these are Sassa beneficiaries and have been instantly funded.
Manamela continued by saying that minister Blade Nzimande also wished to remind students that after Nsfas has obtained confirmation from the university that an academic offer has been granted, application results will be sent to all applicants by SMS, email and through students’ myNsfas accounts.
According to Nsfas, Sassa social grant recipients automatically qualify, skipping right through the financial eligibility stage. For returning students, Nsfas conducts financial checks, meaning these students do not qualify automatically.
Nsfas follows its process of checking whether the student has a prior qualification. The outcome received by the government bursary is to then inform Nsfas of the next step to be taken.
Tuition, housing accommodation, textbooks, and other costs associated with studying are covered by Nsfas. The funds given to qualified students are based on their financial needs and are meant to cover all of their tuition expenses.
The bursary scheme has also introduced a series of policy changes to make the bursary more easily accessible to applicants
Nsfas is one of the ways the government is trying to address the issue of limited access to higher education for students from low-income households and increase the participation of students from disadvantaged backgrounds in higher education.
