The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) provides funding for South African students who are pursuing their studies at public universities and colleges.
At the beginning of 2023, NSFAS rejected more than 300 000 funding applications and students were urged to lodge appeals within 30 days of receiving this application outcome.
NSFAS said that some unsuccessful students did not meet the funding requirements while others did not finalise their application with the submission of certain documents.
Initially NSFAS stated that funding decisions would be finalised by 6 February 2023 however, the bursary scheme experienced a backlog with the large amount of appeals they received which left students unsure of whether they would be funded for the 2023 academic year.
Some students were rejected and then after their registration was finalised their funding was under review.
The Independent Appeals Tribunal started working through the appeals about a month ago and communication regarding NSFAS appeals will be sent to students by next week.
NSFAS has warned students of fake NSFAS Appeals notices which has made its rounds. These notices have stated that if students are waiting for appeal confirmation, they can check their statuses from May.
However, this is fake news and students must ensure that they only make use of the official NSFAS website and NSFAS social media pages for the correct information and updates relating to appeals.
