NSFAS prioritises the poor in 2020 funding allocation

THE National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will prioritise poor and vulnerable students in its 2020 funding allocation.

This comes as the scheme announced that it had received a record number of 543 268 first-time funding applications by the end of its application period on 30 November 2019.

NSFAS embarked on a series of roadshows across the country aimed at getting prospective students to apply for funding at tertiary institutions across the country.

The scheme has prioritised poor and vulnerable students and to this end just under 50 per cent of applications have been received from social grant beneficiaries.

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“The personal details and social welfare status of all applications have been validated with the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Social Development. This is a major improvement in NSFAS administration, as communication of funding decision prior to the commencement of the academic year will allow students to enrol at tertiary institution without having to pay upfront registration fees,” said NSFAS.

As in prior years, it is expected that a significant number of students will apply after they have registered at TVET colleges in January 2020.

In the previous year the number of students in this category stood at 160 000.

NSFAS said students—it previously funded –who will be continuing their studies in 2020 will be funded based on progression results to be received from the various institutions.

“Applicants who do not have the myNSFAS portal profiles are encouraged to register on the website in order to ensure they have sight of their funding status.”

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