The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has confirmed that guidelines for its reintroduced loan scheme are complete and successful applicants will receive NSFAS funding.
NSFAS provides comprehensive bursaries and student loans to deserving learners enrolled in approved courses at universities and TVET colleges. This includes money for tuition and registration fees as well as several allowances for food, accommodation and learning materials.
In 2024, NSFAS reintroduced student loans into its funding structure as a way to support missing middle students. Missing middle students refer to individuals who come from households with a combined income exceeding the threshold set by NSFAS of R350,000 and don’t qualify for government-funded support..
Higher Education Minister, Nobuhle Nkabane says the previous NSFAS board failed to find funding solutions for missing middle students. This could have impacted thousands of students who are unable to afford the costs associated with tertiary education.
The last one is the inability of the board to consult on the guidelines for the missing middle funding and the related inability to implement the missing middle solutions.
The Minister confirmed that R3.8 billion was allocated to support missing middle students in South Africa.
"This is the category of students who come from families with an income of more than R350,000, but not more than R600,000 per annum," she said.
NSFAS loan funding is available for more than 31 000 students, however, the number of students that will ultimately receive funding will be much less.
At least, we are hoping that 31,884 prospective learners tend to benefit out of this investment. It is my responsibility to ensure that NSFAS is efficient in executing this mandate.
NSFAS revealed that as of 15 August 2024, a total of 1300 applicants had satisfied the NSFAS Loan Scheme Academic and Financial Eligibility Criterion for funding. This is only a fraction of the 31,000 loans that NSFAS planned to fund.
The government bursary scheme said they will prioritise Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, allocating 70% of the loan scheme to these programmes. The remaining 30% is aimed at students enrolled in Humanities and Social Sciences programmes.
NSFAS is finalising the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) requirement as per the guidelines and it is anticipated that details of all successful applicants will be shared with Institutions not later than 5 September 2024.
