NSFAS DHET Bursary Scheme 2025-2026

We are pleased to inform you about NSFAS DHET Bursary Scheme 2025-2026

WHAT IS A BURSARY?

According to Wikipedia, A bursary is a monetary award made by an institution to individuals or groups of people who cannot afford to pay full fees. In return for the bursary, the individual is usually obligated to be employed at the institution for the duration as the bursary. According to The Good Schools Guide, a bursary is “usually for helping out the impoverished but deserving and those fallen on hard times.

According to The Hobsons UK Boarding Schools Guide, numerous independent schools have bursary capability, namely grants from the school to help pay education fees. These are usually awarded after a “means test” of family income and are not necessarily dependent on examination performance, although some account of academic ability will be taken. Bursaries may be awarded in addition to scholarships where financial need is demonstrated and the prospective student would otherwise be unable to enter the school.

To obtain such a bursary, it is customary for parents to be asked by the school’s bursar to fill in an application form, giving details of their financial circumstances, supported by documentary evidence, including capital assets. The application will be considered by the school in accordance with its bursary policy. The award will often only remain in force until the pupil has sat the next relevant public examination. Most schools will review bursaries annually to ensure that the justification for an award remains. In Britain any award made before GCSE will not necessarily continue to the A-level stage.

Bursaries are similar to “scholarships” or “prizes“, which are based on performance. These awards are generally given for good performance in the exams preceding university or college entrance in which the student achieves grades above the standard entry. These can be awarded by universities or, sometimes, by companies

THINGS TO KEEP IN MY WHEN APPLYING FOR A BURSARY

A lot of students are usually confused when it comes to scholarship or bursary application. When they have answered the most difficult question of where to start, then the other process becomes seamlessly easy for them. Basically, that’s why we have decided to include this post to enable you successfully apply for bursaries especially for this year to aid your academic cause. The following are those important things to note before applying for a bursary.

1. Most bursaries will request for your Latest Academic Record duly signed by your school, your ID document, evidence of tertiary application, and most importantly an authentication that you were accepted. Similarly, some bursaries will require you to provide other proof of Guardians or Parents’ source of income and residence. After successfully sorting out these documents, then your next step is to ensure you verify your documents. If you don’t know how to, simply visit any commissioner of oath at a post office, bank or police station.
2. The integrity they say is telling myself the truth while honesty is telling the truth to other people. Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth-telling, truth-speaking, truth-living, and truth loving. Therefore, you must ensure that whatever information you are providing is the truth and nothing but the truth. Fill all blank spaces with correct data. No legacy is so rich as honesty.
3. A whole lot of students apply for bursaries without having any references at all and in other cases have references that can’t be reached. Most times this is the first step to not getting the bursary you have applied for. If you need the bursary you are applying for and you want it, then go ahead and find references with the correct contact addresses.
4. A lot of students also don’t have enough writing skills to win their desired bursary which can prove to be a stone in the neck in the long run. Therefore it is highly advisable that you write a highly convincing and motivational cover letter that will make anyone accessing it believe before he begins to even read it. Things such as why you think you should be awarded the bursary especially more than the other several thousand applying, how you can contribute to society when you have finished your program in school and especially how getting the bursary will be a stepping stone to achieving your dreams and changing your future for good.
5. A lot of students apply for bursaries and go to sleep which is very bad. When you apply for any bursary, ensure you regularly and consistently check your Emails and your phone text messages to be sure you have not or have received a message from those assessing your application.
6. Lastly, ensure you always check for bursary deadlines or closing dates so you can know exactly when to apply.

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was formed in terms of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. NSFAS is a bursary scheme that provides poor and working-class South African students with fully subsidized free higher education and training.

NSFAS’s vision is to provide students from poor and working-class families with financial aid, to undertake studies at public universities and TVET colleges.

On 16 December 2017, former president, Jacob Zuma, announced that the South African government would phase in “fully subsidized free higher education and training for poor and working-class South African students”. The funding would be phased in over a period of 5 years and thus the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) Bursary Scheme was established.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Applicants must ensure that they satisfy the following minimum entry criteria before applying:

• South African citizen
• Receive a SASSA grant
• Total household income is R350 000 or less per annum
• Applying to study at a TVET College or public university
• Already registered as a university student with a total household income of under R122 000 per annum
• Passed grade 9 and grade 10 to receive funding to study at TVET College
• Passed Matric to receive funding to study at University
• Registering for your first time at a public university for an undergraduate qualification or registered at a public TVET College for a National Certificate Vocational/ report 191 programme

Do NOT apply if you meet the following criteria:

• Foreign student (NOT a South African citizen)
• Total household income is over R350 000 per annum
• Completed a previous tertiary qualification
• Already applied and received funding

COVERAGE VALUE

The DHET Bursary will provide cover for the following study related expenses:

• Registration fee
• Tuition fee
• Subsidised book allowances
• Prescribed learning materials (up to a certain amount, as set by NSFAS)
• Subsidised accommodation (up to a certain amount, as set by NSFAS)
• Subsidised meal allowances

HOW TO APPLY

There are 3 ways in which you can apply:

METHOD 1: On the NSFAS website

(if you wish to apply online, follow the instructions below)
1) Create your myNSFAS account here: https://my.nsfas.org.za/mynsfas/selfservice.html
You will be required to provide the following information when registering an account: username, password, ID number, cellphone number and email address
2) You can then login using your selected username and password
3) Complete the application form by clicking the “apply” button
4) When you have filled in all the required information (do not leave any fields blank), you can upload electronic copies of your supporting documents (as listed below). Once all your documents have been uploaded, click the “submit” button to receive your reference number

METHOD 2: At your closest NYDA Centre

1) Visit a NYDA centre/ office closest to you
2) A NYDA centre worker will explain the application process and provide you with an application form to complete
3) Complete the application form in CAPITAL letters with a black pen and sign it in the allocated spots
4) Hand in your application form and supporting documents (as listed below). Ensure that your supporting documents are certified on the front of the page and not be older than 3 months.
5) You will receive a receipt card with a bar code attached

METHOD 3: At a Financial Aid Office on campus/ computer lab

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

Submit clear copies of the following supporting documentation (the submission of these documents is compulsory – if any items are missing, your application be disregarded):

• ID document/ ID card (certified copy and electronic copy)
• Unabridged birth certificate (if you do not have an ID document or ID card) (certified copy and electronic copy)
• Parents/ guardians ID documents (certified copy and electronic copy)
• Parents/ guardians death certificate (if applicable) (certified copy and electronic copy)
• Payslips/ employment letters/ pension advice (not older than 3 months) (do not submit SASSA slips. SASSA should be excluded from household income) (certified copy and electronic copy)
• Contact details (cellphone number/ email address where NSFAS can communicate with you throughout the application process, as well as to provide feedback on the outcome of your application)
• NSFAS Consent Form (.pdf) – completed and signed by parents/ guardians
• If disabled, complete and include the NSFAS Disability Annexure A (.pdf)
• If orphaned, complete and include the NSFAS Declaration Form (.pdf) – to be signed by an Isibindi Child Youth Care Worker/ a social worker from the Department of Social Development and submitted to an Isibindi Centre/ NYDA office

CONTACT THE BURSARY PROVIDER

For any queries related to this bursary programme, please contact NSFAS directly:
Tel: 0860 067 327
Email: info@nsfas.org.za

That’s the much we can take on the topic “NSFAS DHET Bursary Scheme South Africa 2020/2021”.

Recommended:

NSFAS Overview, Login, Application & All you should Know-www.nsfas.org.za

MyNsfas Account Login-www.nsfas.org.za

Note: If you need help, or you have questions or corrections regarding this post, kindly use the comment box below.