In 2022, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) receives thousands of applications for funding every year. However, if you received a non-Sassa declaration message, your funding will be on hold.
NSFAS funds students from poor and working-class homes around South Africa. They provide crucial financial support for students wanting to attend public universities and TVET colleges but don't have the means to pay for the high costs of tertiary education.
To qualify for NSFAS, you must meet the criteria. This criterion includes being South African, attending a public university or TVET college and having a household income below a certain amount depending on whether or not you have a disability.
What Non-Sassa Declaration Message Means From NSFAS
Applicants are required to submit supporting documents to prove they are deserving of a NSFAS bursary. However, some students fail to submit documents while some try and undeservedly receive funding for their education from NSFAS.
One of the ways they do this is by not declaring their parental or spousal income. NSFAS would require proof of this.
NSFAS spokesperson Kagisho Mamabolo explained, “So this is when an applicant does not want to or cannot declare the parental/spouse or guardian information to [NSFAS]. Therefore NSFAS would need some kind of declaration from the applicant that they never received Sassa or any other form of income”.
He added, “The Non-Sassa Declaration Form allows the applicant to provide some form of assurance from either a social worker or ex-school principal that they were aware that the applicant was indeed an orphan. Forms are attached to the message sent to the applicant”.
In 2021 NSFAS introduced a new cohort system that would allow the scheme an opportunity to communicate with students immediately around their funding.
