The Higher Education and Training Minister Dr Nobuhle Nkabane has announced that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding applications for the 2025 academic year will open on Friday, 20 September.
The applications were supposed to be opened today (Monday) but had to be postponed following a four-day extensive consultation with stakeholders in the Post-School Education and Training (PSET) sector.
Nkabane made the announcement during a media briefing held in Pretoria.
“Having received a presentation during these stakeholder consultations and having noted the comments received from stakeholders, I am now confident that NSFAS is ready to kickstart the 2025 online application process- effectively this Friday.
I am therefore inviting all students who are seating for their matriculation this year to take this opportunity and apply for either the NSFAS bursary or loan.
This invitation is also extended to learners from grade 9, 10, and 11, who would like to enter the Technical and Vocational Education and Training sector,” said Nkabane.
The Minister said one of the reasons to postpone today’s launch, was to allow NSFAS to do a dry run of the online application system to stakeholders.
According to Nkabane, the feedback received has already informed critical systems changes to simplify the online application process and making it accessible to all.
She said the stakeholders meeting agreed to address NSFAS inefficiencies and acknowledged that the scheme is the main factor of instabilities in the Institutions of Higher Learning, linked to the delays in releasing matric examination results translates to delays in funding decisions.
Meanwhile, NSFAS administrator, Freeman Nomvalo, who was speaking at the same briefing, said the scheme is ready for the 2025 applications.
“We have designed the system for us to be ready on the NSFAS side.
One part that must be remembered is that we do verifications through interfacing with Home Affairs, SASSA, and so on.
The dependencies are just not on the NSFAS system only, but we’re confident that the system and the availability of power around the country for connectivity to work well.
But we’re confident that the system is ready and could take the influx and will be user-friendly for the students to apply,” explained Nomvalo.
