The National Student Financial Aid Scheme, better known as NSFAS, offers bursaries to South African students who plan to study at public universities and TVET colleges. They cover funding for registration, tuition and allowances.
You may be wondering if they fund students who pursue online studies?
The answer is yes they do but only if you're doing a full-time programme or university degree at a public university or TVET College.
They fund students who are enrolled at the University of South Africa (Unisa) which is a distance e-learning university. Unisa offers many courses online which can be funded by NSFAS.
However, NSFAS does not fund any short courses or short-term degrees administered online and they also don't fund any online degrees offered at private colleges.
The requirements for NSFAS are as follows:
- You're a South African citizen
- If you're a SASSA grant recipient, you qualify for funding
- Your family income is not more than R350 000 per year
- Person with disability: Combined household income must not be more than R600 000 per year
Application results will be communicated to all applicants once NSFAS received confirmation from the Institution that an academic offer has been made to you.
Once approved for the bursary, the only requirement to stay funded is that students need to pass their modules. However, NSFAS does give grace in case something happens and allows students to fail one year and still be funded.
For more information visit our NSFAS section
