In 2023, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) announced that they would start offering the NSFAS Missing Middle Loan as part of their Comprehensive Student Funding Model.
This NSFAS loan is for both undergraduate and postgraduate students and is geared towards students who don't qualify for NSFAS bursaries.
When should distance students who are already employed proceed with repayment of the NSFAS loan?
Strategic Enablement Executive at NSFAS, Vuyokazi Mafilika, explained:
When determining the student’s eligibility, we consider the student’s portion of income as part of their combined household income that should not exceed R600 000.
She continued to say, "We have no special condition requiring these students to pay back immediately just because they are already employed".
Once students are approved, they would need to sign a NSFAS loan agreement. If the students perform well, up to 50% of the student loan can be converted to a bursary.
Rejected NSFAS bursary applicants will automatically be re-assessed for eligibility under the missing middle loan scheme.
NSFAS missing middle loans will have a particular emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programmes, constituting 70% of beneficiaries. The remaining 30% will be allocated to Humanities and social science programmes.
