The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), a critical lifeline for many South African students, provides funding which includes NSFAS allowances. These NSFAS allowance payments are made to students every month.
Here's a guide on how NSFAS allowances will work for 2025.
NSFAS allowances are divided into 10 payments every year, during the academic year. The academic year commences in February and ends in November for most institutions which means that NSFAS pays allowances from February until November only.
How NSFAS Allowance Payments For 2025 Will Be Made
During the second half of 2024, NSFAS paid university allowances through universities and TVET College allowances were paid directly to the student's bank account.
NSFAS has confirmed that for 2025, TVET College students will continue to have their allowances paid directly into their personal bank accounts. Students are urged to update their bank account details on the myNSFAS portal.
NSFAS planned for allowances for university students to be paid directly to their personal bank accounts. NSFAS has however been unable to put this in place due to an ongoing court case.
Universities will therefore continue to pay allowances to students directly in 2025, until NSFAS announces a change in the payment strategy.
How Much NSFAS Allowances Will Be For January 2025
NSFAS has not yet confirmed how much allowance payments will be for 2025. This will likely be revealed by Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane during the state of readiness speech for the 2025 academic year.
Despite not yet confirming the allowance payment amounts for 2025, the bursary scheme has been making preparations and provisions for the 2025 academic year.
The bursary scheme announced plans to disburse R3.7 billion to universities in January 2025 to ensure timely allowance payments for students, including those in Health Science programmes, which begin earlier than most academic courses.
This upfront payment represents 10% of the total projected funding for the 2025 academic year, amounting to R37 billion. Similarly, NSFAS will allocate 20% of tuition funds—over R640 million—upfront to TVET colleges by 10 January 2025.
