Although the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) is still accepting applications for the 2023 academic year, exceeding the specified household income threshold could result in your application being rejected.
As part of its application requirements, the bursary scheme currently requires that applicants must have a combined household income that is not above R350 000 a year, a total of less than R600 000 for persons with disability and a total combined household income of no more than R122 000 a year for students who started studying before 2018.
However, regarding appeals, Nsfas also stated that if the financial circumstances of an applicant’s household have changed since the submission of their application and evidence of this is provided to Nsfas, their appeal will be considered.
This according to the bursary scheme, would be applicable if a key contributor to the applicant’s household income has become incapacitated or is deceased since the submission of their application.
Additionally, if a court has deemed the student or applicant to be independent of their biological parents and has ruled that the parents are not liable for the student's or applicant's maintenance, including the cost of his or her education, the appeal will be taken into account.
The appeal would also be considered if the applicant/student comes from a family with a child as the primary breadwinner, according to a report from a social worker registered with the Department of Social Development.
Nsfas would also consider an appeal from this category of applicants if an applicant's parents are divorced, and a court has ruled that one parent is solely responsible for paying child support, which includes paying for the child's education, in accordance with the conditions of the divorce order.
Students whose funding applications have been approved will now have their status listed as "Approved for funding subject to registration," while those whose funding applications have been declined will have their status listed as "Application unsuccessful."
