Last updated 26 September 2026 · Written by Kgothatso Moleke · General information, not financial advice
The short version: what you can get depends almost entirely on one number — your combined household income. Under R350,000 a year and study is largely paid for and never repaid. Between R350,000 and R600,000 you fall into the missing middle and can borrow from the state. Above that, you are on the commercial market. Knowing which band you are in saves months of applying for the wrong thing.
Find your band first
| Combined household income | What you are eligible for |
|---|---|
| SASSA grant recipient | NSFAS bursary, qualifying automatically |
| Up to R350,000 a year | NSFAS bursary — a grant, not repaid |
| R350,001 to R600,000 | NSFAS missing middle loan |
| Above R600,000 | Bursaries, bank student loans, or paying directly |
| Up to R600,000, student with a disability | NSFAS bursary |
Household income means everyone contributing in the home, not just the parent signing the form. Understating it does not help — NSFAS verifies against SARS and Home Affairs records, and a mismatch is one of the most common reasons an application is rejected.
If you qualify for the NSFAS bursary
This is a grant. You do not repay it. It covers tuition paid directly to the institution, accommodation, and a set of annual allowances:
| Allowance | Per year |
|---|---|
| Living allowance | R15,000 |
| Transport (up to 40km) | R7,500 |
| Books and learning material | R5,200 |
| Personal care (catered residence) | R2,900 |
TVET students receive a comparable package, with accommodation set by area — around R24,000 urban, R18,900 peri-urban and R15,750 rural.
Two things to be clear-eyed about. The living allowance works out to roughly R1,500 a month over ten months, which does not cover living in most cities — families still carry a real cost. And allowances are reviewed annually, so confirm the current figures on the NSFAS site rather than trusting any article, including this one.
The missing middle
Between R350,001 and R600,000 you earn too much for the bursary and usually too little to pay fees comfortably. This is the band that has historically been squeezed hardest, and the NSFAS loan scheme exists specifically for it.
It is a loan, so it is repaid. But it carries something commercial lenders do not offer: performance converts debt into grant. Pass 60% and funding continues; achieve above 70% and half the loan converts to a bursary. Doing well at university is, quite literally, worth money.
Bursaries: the money most people never apply for
Every band should be applying for bursaries, and most do not. Companies, sector education authorities, professional bodies, municipalities and foundations all fund students, often in fields with skills shortages — engineering, accounting, actuarial science, teaching, nursing, IT.
Read the conditions before you sign. Many carry a work-back obligation — one year of service for each year funded — and breaking it usually means repaying the full amount, sometimes with interest. That can be an excellent deal, because it comes with a guaranteed job in a market where graduates struggle to find one. It is a bad deal if you take it for a field you will not want to work in for three years.
Apply widely and early. Most close mid-year for the following intake, and the administrative effort is the only cost.
Bank student loans
The commercial option, and the one needing most care. Typically a parent or guardian signs as surety, interest is charged from day one, and while you study you pay interest only — so the capital does not reduce at all during the degree. Full repayment starts after you graduate.
What that structure actually costs, on R200,000 over a three-year degree at 12.75%:
- Interest-only while studying: about R2,125 a month, which someone must find every month for three years
- Interest paid during the degree: about R76,500 — and the R200,000 still stands in full at graduation
- Repaid over five years afterwards: about R4,525 a month
- Total paid: roughly R348,000 for R200,000 borrowed
Two consequences worth sitting with. A graduate starts working already owing R4,525 a month before rent, which shapes every decision for five years. And the surety is real: if the graduate cannot pay, the parent does, and the parent’s credit record takes the damage. Signing surety is borrowing, whatever it is called on the form.
The question nobody asks early enough
Not whether you can get the money, but whether the qualification will service it. A R348,000 commitment against a field with weak graduate employment is a different proposition from the same amount against a scarce-skills qualification with a hiring pipeline.
This is not an argument against studying — education remains one of the few reliable routes to a better income in South Africa, and a TVET qualification in a trade can outperform a generalist degree on exactly this measure. It is an argument for asking the question before signing, not in final year.
The order that makes sense for most families: apply to NSFAS whatever you think you earn, apply for every bursary you plausibly fit, and treat a bank loan as what covers the gap after those — not as the starting point.
Work out what a repayment actually costs with the loan repayment calculator, and what a household can carry with the affordability calculator. If a parent is signing surety, their credit record is what the lender is pricing — see what a good credit score is worth.
Sources and a caution: NSFAS eligibility thresholds and allowance figures as published for the 2026 academic year — household income up to R350,000 for the bursary, R350,001 to R600,000 for the missing middle loan, R600,000 for students with disabilities. NSFAS rates are reviewed annually and were under review at the time of writing; always confirm current figures at nsfas.org.za before relying on them. Loan figures are illustrative, calculated on a standard amortising loan excluding fees and credit life insurance.