UPDATE: 12th MAY 2025: NSFAS Opens Applications for TVET Students in Trimester 2
NSFAS 2025 applications are officially open for funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). The NSFAS application for 2025 academic year will close on 15 December.
NSFAS Application 2025
Higher Education and Training Minister, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane, launched the opening of the application process during a media briefing held in Pretoria on Friday.
Since it's inception, NSFAS has supported more than 5 million beneficiaries. For 2024, NSFAS supports 1.2 million students with the department expecting this number to grow in 2025.
NSFAS has supported more than five million beneficiaries, producing hundreds of thousands of skilled professionals, especially from within the poor and working-class sections of society.
“Those are the motivating forces that must be mobilised to contribute to the ongoing transformation of our country. The social transformation entails changing the material conditions of all South Africans for the better and education plays a vital role in ensuring that this becomes a reality,” Nkabane said.
NSFAS Loans
This year is the first year which saw NSFAS offer loans to students who don't qualify for a bursary but can't afford to pay their fees without any financial assistance, the "missing middle".
South African citizens and permanent residents who have a household income between R350 000 and R600 000 can make a NSFAS application 2025 for the student loan.
We successfully did this through the implementation of the first phase of the Comprehensive Student Funding Model, which ensures that the missing middle students access financial support from government in a form of a loan to pursue their studies.
NSFAS Eligibility Criteria
To qualify for NSFAS funding, an applicant must meet the following criteria:
- Be a South African citizen or permanent resident who comes from a home with a combined gross household income that does not exceed R350 000 per annum for bursaries and R600 000 per annum loans
- Persons with disabilities qualify if their combined household income does not exceed R600 000 per annum.
- SASSA recipients automatically qualify for funding and need not submit any proof of income.
- Must be studying towards a qualification at a public university or TVET college in South Africa.
How To Apply For the NSFAS Bursaries and Loans
NSFAS applications must be submitted online using the myNSFAS website. To apply, prospective students will need to create a myNSFAS account, then click on the ‘Apply’ tab and complete the online form, upload the required documents where applicable and then click on ‘Submit’.
Applicants are reminded to provide the correct Identity Document (ID) numbers, name(s), and surname, as reflected in their South African ID.
“Learners do not have to wait for matric results to apply for NSFAS. Apply now and avoid delays in the processing of your application!” the Minister said.
