NSFAS approves over 1 million student applications

The National Student Financial Aid Service (NSFAS) has approved over 1.2 million applications for the 2024 academic year. 

NSFAS Board Acting Chairperson Professor Lourens Van Staden confirmed the number in a media briefing on Monday, 4 March. 

LATEST ON NSFAS APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2024 ACADEMIC YEAR 

During the briefing, Van Staden confirmed that NSFAS closed applications on 15 February. The financial scheme received 1 936 330 applications as of 16 February. 

ALSO READ: CONFIRMED: NSFAS allowances for the 2024 academic year

The stats below are as of 1 March. 

Of the 1 936 330 applications received:

• 1 244 854 are provisionally funded.
• 108 345 registration received:
• 59 723 awaiting evaluations.
• 94 816 awaiting supporting documents.
• The student has withdrawn 84 225.
• 52 038 are in progress.

136 468 applications are on the not started status as applicants only created profiles and did not submit applications. 

Van Staden said NSFAS has rejected 243 113 applications while 15 174 appeals have been lodged. 

2024 LOAN APPLICATIONS

NSFAS received 30728 loan applications for the loan scheme as of 16 February 2024.

“We have pre-assessed and determined students who pre-qualify for the loan. Communication was sent to the affected students via the student portal to confirm whether or not they accepted NSFAS to process their loan application. 

“This is specifically for those students who had applied for a bursary but were above the income threshold but within the loan threshold,” the Acting Board Chairperson confirmed.  

The financial scheme envisages that a total of 31 800 missing middle students will be provided with student loans.

WHEN WILL ALLOWANCES BE PAID? 

Following delays in the 2024 academic year primarily due to registration delays, the NSFAS Board said it decided to request institutions to operate as a channel in the interim to pay the February and March allowances. 

For TVET Colleges, NSFAS will use the direct payment channel. 

The 29 institutions that have already submitted registration data will be paid by Friday this week at the latest. We encourage all other institutions to submit registration data to enable NSFAS to make a catch-up payment. 

Van Staden said to support institutions and students, NSFAS made two upfront payments to all institutions. 

The first upfront payment was disbursed on 31 January, and the second was disbursed on 29 February.   

NSFAS made upfront payments to institutions so they could use the funds to distribute students’ allowances. 

The first upfront payment covers the following: 

Book Allowance: Calculated at half of the cost of the 2023 academic year.

Accommodation: Set to cover one month of accommodation costs.

Medical Students: Provision was made for two months’ worth of allowances to assist select institutions with registered medical students whose academic year starts in January.