Most severely affecting those who deserve poor or working-class students’ help, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) faces a financial crisis whose current tip threatens its beneficiaries’ continued access to tertiary education in 2026. Reports have spoken of a NSFAS funding gap now estimated at around R14 billion that would, if any remains unaddressed, find itself kicking out in excess of 100 000 deserving students from state support toward the beginning of the next academic year.
Growing NSFAS Shortfall
The NSFAS funding crisis stands at the confluence of growing demand for tertiary education and a budgetary dilemma faced by the state. Recent presentations made by the leadership of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme to Parliament showed that the current budget will be able to accommodate only around 520 000 K students, leaving over 100 000 deserving candidates at risk of exclusion due to lack of funds.
This shortfall has allegedly increased to nearly R14 billion from earlier estimates which had indicated about R11.6 billion in their accounts. This additional debt-driven trade-off has come into light following the second-semester registrations.
Impact on the Students and Universities
For many students, the NSFAS crisis is not a mere statistical issue but a palpable dam wall for education. The students from poor environments hinge their lives almost entirely upon the NSFAS: for tuition, accommodation, books, and living allowances. Without adequate financial support, hundreds are staring at delayed registration, discontinuation of their studies, or dropping out of the program.
The South African Union of Students has labeled it as a “moral as well as political failure”. In their observation, that situation is posed to expose the disappointment grounds against the state, as outlined in its slogan, for providing free and open access to education.
Government and NSFAS Responses
There are ad hoc attempts to bridge the funding gap due to imminent time frames in which the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) have mobilized the respective bureaucrats. A portion of the present allocation (approximately R13.3 billion) had to be refocused to unlock registrations for the year and bring in a stop-gap solution for students.
In his view, the Honourable Rector for Higher Education Buti Manamela held NSFAS as the bastion of State governmental intervention at ushering in the smooth commencing year 2026, promising administrative amendments and tracking improvements through the myNSFAS self-help portal.
This, nevertheless, addresses immediate issues, but largely just that and not the systemic ones. A more sustainable solution would have ejected several crucial strategies to be enacted by the end of the year through a technical task force, having come with representatives from National Treasury, DHET, and the Presidency.
Underrated Issues and Other Structural Problems
The urgent response to be made when one is pushed to the brink of the year or government funding is misused for any kind of appeal are the following, as explained by experts and NSFAS officials:
Growing demand for eligibility as students qualifying for loan applications still get a waiver to qualify; haunted by rising living costs in the households forcing them into NSFAS income brackets.
Countries hosting the state itself insist on moving forward expeditiously in the instance of shortfall (NSFAS) exposed their financial resources falling way behind the country.
Transformation from loans to bursaries did not prepare recovery mechanisms well- millions of rands stand uncollected, which could have relieved some pressure today.
Also Read: SASSA Unemployment Grants 2026: Confirmed Amounts And Payment Timeline