Budget 2026: NSFAS faces billions‑rand funding cut

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) will receive R54.3 billion in the current financial year to help students from disadvantaged families, a decrease from R58 billion in the previous financial year.

This was revealed in the National Treasury’s 2026 Budget Review document.

The department noted: “The Budget Review is compiled using the latest available information from departmental and other sources. Some of this information is unaudited or subject to revision.”

The document was released on Wednesday after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s delivery of the 2026 National Budget. It outlines some of the details of the decisions taken by the Budget Council.

Spending on NSAFS

For years, the high costs of universities have been a burden on many households in South Africa. Nsfas was established to alleviate this pressure; however, many students remain unfunded.

The Budget Review document detailed that the funding will go to thousands of students in universities and colleges.

“Nsfas will spend R54.3 billion in 2026-27 to provide bursaries to enable 744 203 poor and academically deserving students to access universities and technical and vocational education and training colleges,” reads the document.

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NSAFS budget set to increase

Nsfas was established under the National Student Financial Aid Scheme Act (1999).

The scheme is responsible for providing bursaries and loans to students, developing criteria and conditions for granting bursaries and loans to eligible students in consultation with the minister, raising funds, and recovering loans from debtors, among other responsibilities.

While the minister did not mention the funding scheme in his speech on Wednesday, the budget review document shows that funding for unprivileged students will increase over the next financial year. In the following financial year, the scheme will receive R56.5 billion and in 2028-29, funding will increase to R57.9 billion.

Can Nsfas deliver?

In recent years, the funding scheme has made headlines for all the wrong reasons: if it is not students’ tuition not being paid on time, it is students sleeping on the streets due to accommodation that has not been paid for.

A briefing held by Nsfas acting CEO Waseem Carrim and acting chairperson Dr Mugwena Maluleke in early January revealed that more than 49 000 students will not receive funding from Nsfas to pursue higher education in the 2026 academic year.

Mugwena said the scheme had received 893 847 applications for this year. By the beginning of January, 609 653 applications had been approved, with 218 043 applications found to be 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.

NOW READ: Nsfas blames institutions and accommodation providers for students sleeping on the street 

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