Nsfas CEO Waseem Carrim at a media briefing at the GCIS offices in Hatfield, Pretoria, on 6 January 2026. Picture: GCIS Acting National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) CEO Waseem Carrim has confirmed that the scheme has sufficient funds to make upfront payments to institutions, ensuring students can start their studies. On Tuesday, Carrim and acting Nsfas chairperson Dr Mugwena Maluleke updated the country on the progress the scheme has made regarding funding applications for this year.
Last year, the scheme was in the headlines for the wrong reasons, with students sleeping on the streets due to accommodation issues and failing to make timely payments for some students, risking their registrations. However, Carrim assured South Africans that Nsfas had systems in place to prevent last year’s issues. “I’d like to say, though, that Nsfas does have sufficient funding to make the upfront payments to institutions for February and March for what is the remaining of this financial year.
But basically, the start of the 2026 academic year,” said Carrim. “As it relates to the budget for 2026, we are still engaged in the budget process with National Treasury. Of course, the budget is published, I think, in the third week of February after the State of the Nation Address.
Read Full Article on The Citizen
[paywall]
And we’ll be able to give a sense of what our final budget numbers are for the 2026 academic year.” Just over 49 000 students will not be receiving funding from the Nsfas to pursue their higher education in the 2026 academic year. Mugwena said the scheme had received 893 847 applications for this year. To date, 609 653 applications have been approved, with 218 043 applications currently incomplete due to outstanding documents.
About 16 862 applications were cancelled and 49 538 were rejected. First-time entry students accounted for 766 232 applications, while 125 157 applications came from senior students.
[/paywall]
