In an effort to keep up with the rising number of students who require student funding for the current academic year, NSFAS had a slightly higher budget allocation compared to that of the previous year.
For 2023, the Higher Education Department allocated more than R38 billion to university students funded by the bursary scheme, while almost R9 billion was allocated to TVET College students. This includes upfront payments made by NSFAS.
However, a large portion of these allocated funds have not been used. Only 23.9% of the 2023 NSFAS funding allocation has so far been used, which leaves NSFAS with almost R30 billion of an available allocation balance.
Meanwhile, only 24.83% of the NSFAS funding allocation intended for TVET College students has so far been used. This leaves the bursary scheme with an almost R6.8 billion allocation balance for this cohort of students.
For the 2022 academic year, the Department allocated payments that total of more than R38 billion to universities and a total of over R7 billion was allocated to TVET Colleges.
Out of this, NSFAS paid out total amounts of over R37 billion to universities, while just over R5 billion was paid to TVET Colleges (this includes upfront payment). This means that 96% of the allocated funds were paid to universities.
In the case of TVET Colleges, only 70% of the allocated funds were used, living the bursary scheme with an allocation balance of more than R2.1 billion for 2022.
The department has also stated that they expect a significant increase in their NSFAS student funding budget between the 2023/24 and 2025/26 financial year.
NSFAS funding for university students is expected to increase from R38.6 billion during the 2023/24 fiscal year to R43.8 billion in 2025/26.
The department’s same estimate for the funding of TVET College students is R8.9 billion in 2023/24 to R10.1 billion by 2025/26.
