The South African government wants to ensure that no student is turned away from achieving their academic goals at institutions of higher learning due to financial challenges.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has announced an extension of the application for funding for the 2022 academic year. The application period was set to close on 7 January. However, Nsfas has extended the deadline for applications to 21 January 2022.
To date, NSFAS has received more than 600 000 applications for funding for the 2022 academic year. This number is expected to climb after the recently announced extension.
The 600 000 students that have applied so far will be eligible for funding at one of the country’s 26 public universities or one of the 50 TVET colleges.
NSFAS said, ‘In this application cycle NSFAS enhanced its application portal such that first-time applicants who are SASSA beneficiaries will receive a real-time response after submitting their application’.
The scheme revealed that 182 567 applicants were instantly confirmed eligible for funding due to this enhancement to the portal.
NSFAS says there will be no further extensions for the application deadline for funding.
In order to qualify for a NSFAS bursary, you must …
- 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. This does however exclude R350 grant beneficiaries.
- Have a valid email address.
- Have your own valid cell phone number
Here are the documents you need to submit when submitting your NSFAS online application:
All applicants:
- Copy of your ID
- Must have consent from parent(s), guardian or spouse to submit their personal information for validation and verification. Once you accept the application terms and conditions, you confirm that you have received consent from all relevant parties.
If the applicant is dependent on their parents/guardian/spouse, they must provide:
- ID copies of parent(s), guardian or spouse
- Proof of income (payslip/UIF letter/appointment letter/recruitment letter) of parent(s), guardian or spouse where applicable
If the applicant has a disability, they must provide:
- A completed Disability Annexure A (if their information is not pre-populated on the online application form)
If you are a SASSA grant recipient then no proof of income is required.
