NSFAS clears major backlog, documentation errors delay funding

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) says it has made significant progress in processing funding applications for the 2026 academic year, with tens of thousands of additional students approved.

Acting CEO, Waseem Carrim, said the scheme had previously flagged a major backlog of outstanding documentation.

“As we move to our 2026 application cycle, we had indicated that about 200,000 students had outstanding documents with the fund,” Carrim said.

He confirmed that most of those documents have now been submitted, but warned that incorrect or incomplete paperwork continues to delay some applications.

Carrim stressed the importance of submitting properly completed consent and declaration forms, particularly for applicants who are not beneficiaries of South African Social Security Agency (SASSA).

“NSFAS encourages students to send clear, correct copies of documents as has been requested,” Carrim said.

Providing an update on overall funding outcomes, Carrim said NSFAS has approved funding for 660,000 students. A further 85,600 applications remain under verification, while 21,400 are still awaiting documentation.

He added that 116,000 applications were rejected, although 13,000 of those applicants were offered loans after meeting the qualifying criteria.

“As we move to continuing university students, we are quite pleased that about 437,000 students have met the academic progression criteria, which is more than 80% of our students, with about 110,000 not meeting the academic progression criteria,” Carrim said.

“We have about 5,000 students who have outstanding results, and these are mainly due to supplementary examinations.”

NSFAS noted that students with supplementary results can still submit them for funding reassessment.

“For continuing TVET students, we received the results from the 15th of January onwards, and we processed them within seven days of receipt. 127,500 TVET students met the academic progression criteria, 79,400 did not, and we have about 4,000 results which are still under review,” Carrim explained.

Carrim also emphasised the importance of quality student accommodation, saying NSFAS continues to work with institutions, landlords and other stakeholders to address challenges. Guidance circulars have been issued to clarify processes.

For the next academic year, NSFAS says it will manage accommodation payments for participating institutions, while others will continue with their existing arrangements during the transition.

“We’ve received about 194,000 accommodation applications, of which 55,600 have been approved. 90,800 are sitting at institutional review, while about 53,000 are sitting at landlord approval. NSVAS continues to work closely with both institutions and landlords to ensure that timely processing and approval of student accommodation applications, prioritizing the needs and well-being of our students,” Carrim said.