The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) plays a crucial role in helping students who cannot afford the costs of tertiary education achieve their academic goals. By providing NSFAS bursaries, the scheme ensures that deserving students can pursue their studies and obtain qualifications.
Next Round of NSFAS Applications
NSFAS recently closed applications for Semester 2 on 26 July.
The next opportunity for students to apply for NSFAS funding is for Trimester 3, which is specifically for TVET College students. Applications for Trimester 3 will open on 2 September 2024 and close on 20 September 2024. This will be the final application cycle for 2024.
The application process remains consistent across all cycles for 2024, with students required to apply online through the NSFAS website.
2025 NSFAS Applications
Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr. Nobuhle Nkabane, has confirmed that applications for 2025 NSFAS funding will open in September 2024. This announcement was made during the department’s budget vote.
Dr. Nkabane emphasized that preparations are underway to ensure that NSFAS systems are ready to handle the upcoming application period.
We are working overtime to ensure that NSFAS systems are ready for the commencement of the 2025 application season, which is scheduled to start in September this year,
NSFAS provides comprehensive bursaries and student loans to eligible learners enrolled in approved courses at universities and TVET colleges, covering tuition, registration fees, and allowances for food, accommodation, and learning materials.
As NSFAS prepares to open 2025 applications, Administrator Freeman Nomvalo highlighted concerns with the current ICT architecture, stating, "We need to re-engineer our systems in a way that it is able to talk to the systems of other institutions and stakeholders back to the learning life of the student."
Efforts are being made to modernize, secure, and improve the accessibility of NSFAS systems. Nomvalo also acknowledged the challenges faced in aligning NSFAS processes with university planning schedules, which can cause delays in funding decisions.
"For the current year planning for 2025, we are not going to achieve that alignment," he said.
But we are undertaking as NSFAS that we should make sure that our planning happens at least in a way that enables decisions to be made before the end of December so that when students come in at the beginning of the year, those decisions have been made.
However, first-time applicants may experience delays due to the need for final matric results, but Nomvalo assured that this should be the only issue considered.
