There are many options available for undergraduate students who need funding and they are easily accessible when compared to Postgraduate students. Currently, students are being made aware that obtaining a postgraduate degree is essential to furthering your career. Many relevant skills are acquired when a student engages in their postgraduate studies. Students who have financial issues already have difficulty funding their undergraduate studies and a postgraduate degree would then pose as a challege for these very students.
"Funding for research projects often includes allocations for postgraduate support either through bursaries and scholarships or through opportunities such as employment as tutors and assistants on a part-time basis. Such employment is often needed because many scholarships and bursaries don’t fully fund postgraduate students", says Professor Shireen Motala and Professor Saurabh Sinha in an article by Mail & Guardian.
NSFAS funds postgraduate studies but only select courses. They then would advise you to apply at the National Research Foundation (NRF), which funded 9.2% of all postgraduate students in 2019, amounting to just under R1 billion. The NRF applications for funding opens in July and closes in December. For more information on the NRF, visit their website here. Of those students who are funded with the NRF, 7% are Honours/Bachelor of Technology students, 9.2% are Master’s students and 15.6% Doctoral students.
Every university offers its own variant of financial aid. Some have extensive booklets detailing bursaries and scholarships, while others simply have representatives who will explain what’s available. Further information on Universities funding can be found here. This website includes a map which allows you to click on universities. This gives you the opportunity to read about funding optionns available to postgraduate students for your desired university.
For funding seperate from your university and their Financial Aid office, you can visit the Bursaries Portal to see which bursaries are available to you as a postgraduate student.
Another option is that of Fundi. Fundi offers students loans to fund their studies and aim to make students' lives easier. Visit their website for more information
Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students can also apply for The Funda Lushaka Bursary Programme. For more information, read here.
Another option available to postgrad students who fall under the category of missing middle students is that of the Ikusasa Student Financial Aid Programme. Read our article on ISFAP here to find out more.
Students also have the option of applying for students loans with South African banks. Managing a student loan can be difficult at times. To know how to manage them better, read this.
