Thousands of students have submitted funding applications to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme for the 2023 academic year. The scheme expects many more students to apply for funding as the application period approaches its conclusion.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) has been accepting and processing funding applications for the 2023 academic year. The application period opened in September 2022 and since then thousands of students have submitted applications.
It was revealed that 492,577 students submitted 2023 funding applications from South Africa’s nine provinces. The majority of applications were submitted from students in KwaZulu-Natal (122,837) and Gauteng (94,269).
Nsfas revealed that 69,658 students’ funding applications were immediately approved. Students who are beneficiaries of South Africa Social Security Agency (Sassa) grants are immediately approved for funding as they meet the main financial criteria needed to qualify for a Nsfas bursary.
Approximately 29,036 applications from across the country were removed from the Nsfas Online applications website. Students will have the opportunity to resubmit after withdrawing their application, as long as they resubmit before the closing date.
Nsfas also said 155,820 applications were saved on their online application portal but were not submitted by students. Students must submit these applications before the application closing date to be considered for funding.
Nsfas introduced several strategies to ensure that only students who are deserving of bursaries receive funding. These strategies are being used during the 2023 Nsfas application period.
Students who receive a Nsfas bursary receive a meal allowance, stationery allowance and a transportation allowance. Their tuition and accommodation fees will also be paid for by Nsfas.
Nsfas also wants to ensure that students do not encounter delays in accessing their funding at the start of the 2023 academic year. In order to prevent these delays, the higher education department has allocated billions of rands to pay student allowances early in 2023.
The 2023 Nsfas application period will close on 31 January 2023. Only students attending or planning to enrol in approved courses at public universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges can apply for funding.
