After experiencing the misfortune of having your NSFAS application declined, you realised that the best option is to immediately lodge an application appeal.
You do so and have been tracking your appeal status ever since. Upon checking, you find that it says 'active appeal'. This means you have been provisionally approved for funding and that your funding is pending final approval.
In the new and current system, NSFAS applicants are required to submit their appeal within 30 days after their application has been declined. The myNSFAS portal now requires applicants to choose between four specific reasons for submitting their appeal, namely:
1. Change of Income OR
2. I am a vulnerable child OR
3. I am independent of my biological parents OR
4. Cost of education is restricted to one parent
Depending on which one the applicant chooses, they will then be required to download, complete, upload and submit the relevant official required supporting documents as proof.
Additionally, NSFAS has also stated that only applicants who have been declined for the reasons listed below will be able to access the appeal functionality on myNSFAS,
- Financial Ineligibility,
- Academic Eligibility Criteria (pass/fail)
- N+ rule (if they are still within N+2)
- New applicants who have provided insufficient documents or information can also appeal.
For those unfamiliar with how to track your NSFAS appeal status, you can do so by following the steps listed below:
- Login on the myNSFAS portal here
- Enter your username and password and sign in
- Click on 'Track Funding Progress'
For those students that have been approved for funding, their status will now reflect as: ‘Approved for funding subject to registration’, and for those who have been rejected for funding, the status will reflect as ‘Application unsuccessful’.
