NSFAS urges students who like to further their studies to submit their applications for 2024 academic year funding. The bursary application season, which opened on 21 November 2023, will close on 31 January 2024.
According to Higher Education and Training Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande the reason they called applications now is that NSFAS was awaiting South African Revenue Service (SARS) completion of the tax period, which is important to enable NSFAS to have the necessary and updated information available during the application season.
“Furthermore, this is done to afford the beneficiaries shorter turnaround times for decision making which is aligned to NSFAS financial eligibility assessment which requires updated SARS information,” adds Nzimande.
“The reason for this is due to our improved third-party relations, including SASSA, SARS and the Department of Home Affairs. They will be providing NSFAS with information to verify what the student would have declared in the application.”
“The only time supporting documents will be required is when prompted by NSFAS in cases where they cannot verify the parental relationship. Communication will be sent directly by NSFAS to a student to initiate this process,” Nzimande explained.
For students to be considered for funding, minister Nzimande stressed that, “You still need to be registered first, in a public university or TVET College for a funded qualification to be confirmed.”
Dr Nzimande encouraged his team at NSFAS to make use of technology when they communicate with the students to make the application processes seamless.
“The intention is to provide additional services on the WhatsApp functionality, USSD, and introduce additional solutions such as chatbots. The introduction of these applications will enable students to receive responses directly and reduce the reliance on calls,” Nzimande added.
