The South African government is making huge strides directed towards availing loans and bursary schemes for students to study at any 25 public universities and 50 public TVET within South Africa. Since its inception, the program has grown from R441 million in 1999 to R8.5 billion in 2013.
Worth noting is that this statutory board is bankrolled by the Department of Education; part of the NSFAS can be converted into a bursary which a student is not meant to repay depending on one’s academic progress.
How it works?
Students who get a 100% pass rate would get a 40% bursary deduction on an NSFAS loan. The NSFAS loans range from R2 000 to R30 000, students whose tertiary falls within this range will choose how much they need to borrow and this will be approved by the statutory board upon showing them a letter of acceptance together with an invoice stating how much are you meant to pay per semester/term.