Dept of higher Education and Training Opportunities
Government will pay the fee increase, capped at 8%, for all qualifying registered students with a gross combined family income up to R600 000 per annum in 2024.
This is a grant, which covers the increases for tuition fees and university or college-managed accommodation, and will not have to be repaid by qualifying students.
Post-school education and training opportunities: Interventions for poor & working class families
Post-school education and training opportunities: NSFAS progress
In this extract, Dr Blade Nzimande says a tremendous amount of progress has been made, particularly with regards to expanding access to the poor through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which has funded over 1.7 million students since 1994.
In 2024, NSFAS supported approximately 480 000 poor undergraduate students to access universities and TVET colleges.
In 2024, NSFAS also disbursed loans and bursaries totalling R14 billion.
During the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement, government announced that it will provide an additional R9 billion for NSFAS over the period ahead, raising its funding by over 18% to universities over the next three years to assist poor and missing middle students.
Most commendably, NSFAS will be funding 205 000 first time entering and continuing eligible students at universities and 200 000 students at TVET colleges in 2024, by providing student loans and bursaries totalling R15.2 billion.