The National Student Financial Aid Scheme aims to provide eligible students with funding to allow them to further their studies at public universities or TVET Colleges.
NSFAS is a bursary scheme provided by the government, which receives its funding and reports to the Higher Education and Training Department.
The bursary covers tuition fees, accommodation, registration fees, and living and transport allowances.
All South African students are eligible for the bursary if they fall within the allowed income bracket.
The organization funds students depending on the period of their degree or course.
If you are wondering if NSFAS will fund students who have dropped out, and the answer is yes.
The NSFAS policy agreement states that students need to pass at least half of their modules as well as meet the academic requirements of their institution to continue receiving financial aid during the duration of their course.
NSFAS has an N+ rule, where the N stands for the number of years of the qualification and the (+1) represents the number of years NSFAS will fund the students after they fail.
In the past when NSFAS was a loan instead of a bursary, the N+2 rule was in place, however, that was changed in 2019.
Please note that the N+ rule is not based on the number of years that a student has been funded, but on the number of years that the student has been registered for tertiary study at any public university in South Africa.
