The University of South Africa (Unisa) has revealed when students currently benefiting from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will receive their bursary allowances.
Unisa announced that they will begin paying allowances to students this week. This comes after NSFAS confirmed the payment of allowances to all students who qualified for funding for the 2023 academic year.
The university said, “NSFAS confirmed the payment of allowances to all qualifying students and the process of disbursing allowances has now commenced.”
Due to Unisa’s status as a distance learning institution, beneficiaries of NSFAS that attend the university qualify for an incidental allowance. The incidental allowance, also known as the personal care allowance is available to students funded by NSFAS in distance learning and catered residences.
Unisa explained that returning students can expect to receive their incidental allowance as well as their learning material allowance from Wednesday, 15 March 2023.
Allowances for the returning students including learning material and incidental allowances will be disbursed from Wednesday 15 March 2023.
The university revealed that new students may have to wait a few more days before they receive their incidental and learning material allowances. This is dependent on whether or not they chose to receive a laptop.
Unisa explained, “New students who qualify for incidental allowance disbursement will be on 15 March 2023 and learning material allowances for students who did not choose the laptop option will be disbursed from 22 March 2023.”
NSFAS provides comprehensive bursaries to students from poor and working-class backgrounds. The financial aid scheme will cover a student's tuition fees and provide students with living, transportation, and stationery allowances.
