National Student Financial Aid Scheme(NSFAS) is a program based in South Africa that provides financial aid to the students to complete their higher education. It works to provide financial aid in an efficient and effective way to the students belonging to poor and working class families. It helps students financially so that their financial status is no more a barrier between their higher studies.
What is the NSFAS Appeal?
When students apply for NSFAS financial aid, they have to meet some eligibility criteria such as the student must be a citizen of South Africa enrolled at a TVET college or a public university, and the house income must be lower than R350,000 etc.
Sometimes, the application is rejected and the student is notified that he is not eligible for the program and hence would not be funded. In such cases, if you believe that there must have been some mistake considering your application and that you fulfill the eligibility criteria and that your application must again be looked into, you can request NSFAS to review their decision not to fund you. This is called the NSFAS appeal.
Who can Appeal?
NSFAS appeal can be lodged by the student whose NSFAS application for financial aid for higher studies was rejected, or the student who was continuing his higher studies under NSFAS financial program but his aid was suddenly withdrawn.
The decisions of the appeals depend upon the availability of the budget and the number of appeals. The appeals will be considered only if the student had applied for NSFAS financial aid.
Who cannot Appeal?
NSFAS appeal cannot be lodged by the students if they
Are a part of an educational qualification that is not supported by NSFAS
The student was previously rejected by NSFAS for financial aid because of his inability to meet the academic eligibility criteria and is currently a gap year student
The institution with which the student is affiliated provided an incorrect registration record or did not submit any record to NSFAS.
How to Submit the NSFAS Appeal Online?
If the student meets the eligibility criteria the NSFAS appeal, he can submit the appeal by following the steps below:
Visit the website on www.nsfas.org.za.
In the upper left corner of the site, click on the “myNSFAS” tab and login to your myNSFAS account with your id number and your set password.
Then, select the “Track Funding Progress” portal.
From there, click on the tab saying “Application Progress“.
If the status of your NSFAS application is “unsuccessful”, only then you can submit the NSFAS appeal. Hence, click onto the “Submit Appeal” tab.
When you are on the application appeal page, you will come across the reason for which your NSFAS application was unsuccessful.
In the next step, choose the reason you want to appeal for.
Attach the related documents and evidence in the favor of your appeal.
Next, click on the “submit appeal” button.
You will then be able to track the status of your NSFAS appeal in your myNSFAS account.
Along with your NSFAS appeal, you also need to download and complete the propensity letter relevant to your appeal.
If you fail to accomplish eligibility criteria
N+1 Appealing
For Students with disabilities
50% or less registered ratio
Attach these filled propensity letters with your appeal.
How to Write an Appeal Letter?
To write and send the NSFAS appeal letter physically, following steps should be followed:
Go to the NSFAS website and login to your myNSFAS account.
You will find the NSFAS appeal form there.
Print and fill this form up by hand. Fill in the form with capitalized letters.
Attach the propensity letter with the form, relevant documents, and a letter asking the NSFAS team to look into your application again and reconsider your request for financial aid. The letter should be convincing.
After filling out all the paperwork, it should be submitted to the Financial Aid Office of your university. They will forward it to NSFAS.
Terms and Conditions for the NSFAS Appeal
Following are the terms and conditions:
The applicant must submit their appeal within 30 days of receiving the application results. Students who earn more than R350,000 can appeal only if their household’s financial situation has changed after submitting the NSFAS application, and they need to provide appropriate evidence.
This includes situations where the main income contributor in the household has passed away, in which case a death certificate must be provided as evidence.
Another scenario is when a student is declared independent from their biological parents, and a court order stating their non-dependency must be provided as evidence.
If the student’s parents are divorced and the responsible parent’s income is less than R350,000, the divorce papers must be provided to prove that the student is now under the care of a single parent.
Students who didn’t meet the academic eligibility requirements can appeal if certain conditions are met.
These conditions include not being an FTN student in the previous academic term, being severely ill for two months or more during the term or exams, experiencing the death of an immediate relative during the term, being a victim of abuse or rape, being pregnant during the term and giving birth to a child, or having incorrect academic results submitted to NSFAS and having evidence to support this.
In all of these cases, proper evidence must be provided along with the appeal. If you have any further questions about the appeal process, you can contact NSFAS at any time using the following contact information:
