The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) confirmed that most NSFAS loan applicants qualify for NSFAS bursaries. This follows the NSFAS eligibility review process that found that thousands of students qualify for a change in the type of NSFAS funding they receive.
NSFAS provides comprehensive bursaries and student loans to deserving students enrolled in approved courses at universities and TVET colleges. NSFAS funding covers tuition and registration fees, as well as several allowances for food, accommodation, and learning materials.
Students who exceed the NSFAS bursary household income threshold of R350,000 per annum may be eligible for the NSFAS loan. The income threshold for the NSFAS loan is R600,000 per annum.
NSFAS received 17,517 loan applications for the 2025 academic year. These applications were received during the official 2025 NSFAS application window and the NSFAS TVET College student application window.
While evaluating NSFAS funding applications, NSFAS found that 16,013 loan applicants had a household income below R350,000 and therefore qualified for NSFAS bursaries. The scheme subsequently awarded these students NSFAS bursaries.
NSFAS found that 16,013 applicants to be below the R350,000 threshold and these applicants were all converted to be bursary applications.
The government bursary scheme confirmed that the remaining 1,504 applications are still being evaluated.
NSFAS rejected 1487 applicants and only found 52 potential loan recipients. 104 of these loan applicants were rejected as they exceeded the R600,000 income threshold for the NSFAS loan.
The scheme said it was currently evaluating applications received in the NSFAS TVET College student's application window.
This application window allows TVET college students to apply for funding when they commence with their studies during different times in the academic year.The last application window closed in January 2025.
NSFAS will continue reviewing applications until all have funding decisions.
This NSFAS process of reviewing loan applications will be in place until NSFAS is done with all of the 2025 loan applications received.
