NSFAS Pulls Funding From Thousands Of Students

News broke of NSFAS pulling funding from thousands of students. This might sound like a horror but once the full story is known, you might change your mind. NSFAS provides funding to students who are in positions where affording student fees is not a reality.

5000 students have had their funding pulled from NSFAS. This comes after student's information from their households were received from South African Revenue Services (SARS).

NSFAS has said:

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) can confirm that a total of 5000 students who were funded for the 2020 academic year have been recently unfunded

This was due to information received from SARS which shows that these students who were unfunded have total household family incomes which were above R350,000. A key NSFAS requirement is that your combined household income should not be more than R350,000 per annum.

NSFAS has sent out messages to these students to let them know of their funding status and what they need to do. 

The financial aid scheme said, "The affected students will have 14 days from the date of issue to petition this decision by submitting proof of family income or change of income to NSFAS for review". These documents should then be submitted to IncomeReview@nsfas.org.za.

This action seems to be a good one as there are many needy individuals who could be funded and need it more. The public agrees as one person reacts, "These students are blocking more needy students from getting an education".

Another reaction was, "It's irresponsible to make such a decision in August 2020, when you made students sign an agreement in January that you would fund them for 2020" and "those families are paying taxes and most definitely can't afford University fees. The ones who don't pay taxes are the ones benefitting from people whose kids are unable to attend university".