- A total of 93 532 TVET college students and 52 992 university students did not receive NSFAS funding for the 2021 academic year.
- Almost 100 000 NSFAS funded students failed the 2020 academic year, the majority of whom were enrolled at TVET colleges.
- 22 014 students at universities were unfunded because they had already obtained their first undergraduate qualification.
Nearly 150 000 students have not received funding by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for the 2021 academic year for either failing or not meeting other funding criteria.
In a statement on Monday, the Department of Higher Education said that 93 532 TVET college students and 52 992 university students did not receive NSFAS funding for the 2021 academic year.
At TVET colleges 5 376 students who were previously funded were unfunded because their academic pathways were not funded as per the guidelines.
At universities 22 014 students were unfunded because they had already obtained their first undergraduate qualification.
A total of 22 649 university students and 140 TVET students were unfunded because they exceeded the N+ rule which means that students would not be funded for their degrees past a certain number of years.
A total of 96 342 NSFAS funded students failed the 2020 academic year, the majority of whom were enrolled at TVET colleges.
In May, News24 reported that the NSFAS approved budget for 2020-2021 was R41.5 billion. This amount excluded the R6.4 billion additional budget approved by Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande that is awaiting virement approval from National Treasury.
Nzimande congratulated students who were successfully funded and said that their bursary guidelines were based on a number of principles.
"Our bursary guidelines are based on the principles that student funding policy must be fair, rational, affordable and implementable. This means that the policy decisions are made to ensure that students are provided with the best possible support to succeed, taking into account the different circumstances of institutions.
"The funding must also be affordable within the parameters of the funding provided by the government, with a focus on the need for sustainability of the scheme for the future," Nzimande said.