NSFAS applications for 2019 postponed: How will this affect you as a student?

NSFAS has stated that the applications for 2019 will only be opened once the payment backlog has been cleared. This is a great cause of concern, and many students are worried about their applications. As someone who had to rely on NSFAS as well, I know how it feels.

Since you won’t be able to apply on 1 August 2018, your application will have to be postponed. This means that the whole process will be delayed. Because your application will be received later, you will need to sign your Bursary Agreement (NBA) later. This might mean that you might not receive your allowance in time for registration in January.

But what can you do?

The one thing you can to is to check that your Bursary Agreement (NBA) has been signed. The closing date for signing your NBA is 31 July 2018, and NSFAS has stated that they will not pay out an allowance without a signed NBA.

Apart from this, we can only cross our fingers and hope that NSFAS can sort out the backlog sooner rather than later.