The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) provides bursaries to deserving students from poor and working class backgrounds. Their bursaries cover tuition costs, accommodation costs as well as provide students with book allowances, travel allowances and meal allowances.
Despite the comprehensive bursary provided by Nsfas, some students have started working to supplement their lives and the activities they want to participate in outside of the academic space.
Will Nsfas Fund Students Who Have Part Time Jobs?
Nsfas says that students are allowed to have jobs and participate in paid learnerships and internships without it impacting their funding status. However, this is on the condition that the student meets the academic criteria and their income does not surpass the household income threshold which Nsfas has in place.
“As long as you meet the academic criteria, and as long as your salary does not exceed annual household threshold, this does not affect your Nsfas funding” explained the scheme.
Nsfas academic requirements relate to the N+Rule. The N+2 rule means that students only have N+2 years to finish a degree. “N” refers to the minimum number of years allocated to achieve the qualification.
Therefore if a degree can be completed in 4 years, Nsfas will fund you for the 4 years that you can complete the degree. They will also fund you for an additional 2 years if you need to redo certain subjects or modules.
However, students who no longer qualify for funding due to the N+rule, could be considered for funding if they can prove they require 60 or less course credits to complete a qualification. This is on the condition the student obtains support from the institution.
In order to qualify for Nsfas, a student must have a combined household income of less than R350 000 per annum. However, if a student is living with a disability the combined household income threshold is R600 000 per annum.
List Of Requirements Needed To Qualify For A Nsfas Bursary
- Be a South African citizen.
- Registered at any public university for the 2021 academic year.
- Have a combined household income of less than R350 000 per annum.
- Have a combined household income of less than R600 000 per annum for people living with disabilities.
- SASSA grant recipients automatically qualify based on their financial eligibility.
- Have a valid email address.
- Have your own valid cell phone number
