NSFAS - Bursaries.co

While searching for financial aid, one of the many options which students will want to look into is free bursaries. Free bursaries are very commonly offered by national governments and individual colleges. They offer an incredibly useful opportunity to get access to financial aid and, in all hopes, decrease a student’s reliance on loans. Choosing a free bursary over a loan should give students an idea of benefits immediately, as in most cases bursaries don’t need to be repaid. There are some instances in which bursary arrangements are made with private companies which exchange time worked for financial aid given, and while these programs certainly have many fantastic benefits, they cannot fairly be described as free.

When considering what free bursaries are, students should look first to the local financial aid office at their local university and request an information packet. These packets contain the vast majority of free bursaries available to a student, listing award amounts and eligibility requirements. In Canada and the United Kingdom, acting on the material in an information packet will be as easy as submitting an application for financial aid which will automatically enroll a student in any program offered by the university. However in South Africa this process is not always as simple. While information packets are normally available at South African university financial aid departments, applying to these programs can be somewhat difficult. Further compounding this issue is that the most widely available student aid program, provided through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) starts out initially as a loan which has to be repaid but later, for certain students, can be converted into a free bursary program.

Considering free bursaries in South Africa is fairly important because it offers an example of a system which teeters between large amounts of privately offered programs and a smaller amount of publicly supported ones. NSFAS is in many ways a great example of the strange balance which occurs in this country when it comes to free bursaries. Initially, all students using the NSFAS to gain access to student loans will be required to pay back the awards slowly over time. In essence, this means that the government creates a situation in which debt can be accrued by students before they graduate. In many ways this runs contrary completely to free bursaries, but the South African government has incentivized the program allowing for some of the loan amounts to be converted into non-repayable bursaries. The ability to convert loans into free bursaries is based on a student’s academic progress meaning that those who do well in school and score high on examinations will be presented with the opportunity to convert some of their loans into free bursaries. With so many privately offered bursary schemes in the country available to only a sliver of the overall student population, students who get NSFAS loans should certainly work hard in school so that they will later be able to drop at least some of their debt through free bursary conversions.

Looking outside of South Africa towards Europe and Canada, free bursaries abound. In Canada bursaries are offered not only at the local college level by region but also through national programs like the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. In a similar way the United Kingdom offers an exceptional amount of free bursaries based on locale and university with national programs available but largely limited to specific fields or careers. Despite the difference in national level free bursary offerings, these two countries are great examples of places which offer an immense amount of programs that do not have to be repaid.

Many people graduating from secondary education institutions would like to attend college, and it should not be surprising that in countries where free bursary programs are readily offered college enrollment is relatively high. While student loans which must be repaid are still not uncommon in these areas, students with high access to free bursaries can enroll in college without having to worry about having debt equivalent to purchasing a new home upon graduation.

Different from bursary systems common to Europe and Canada, South African bursaries are nonetheless incredibly useful to students in the region offering great awards for those willing to step up to the plate. Bursaries for South African students are a patchwork of mostly private programs mixed in with some government bursaries and then a few mixed private/public collaborations. At first glance it may appear very chaotic, messy in many respects and perhaps difficult to navigate. However, once you’ve learned how South African bursaries tend to work, the system works very well and offers awards that many European or Canadian bursariessimply cannot compare to.

Though South Africa bursaries lack the elegance of the single form bursary application system common in many western countries, available programs are advertised quite readily and many are listed in bursary information packets available at individual universities. Even those that are not listed in such information packets are generally fairly easy to find if a searching student is willing to put in a little bit of time and effort.

Because the number of bursaries offered by the national government is relatively limited, large and even local companies have filled the fiscal void in a way which not only provides students with financial assistance but further helps to ensure that there is a readily available employment pool of skilled workers available for projects around the country. While it could be argued that such a situation works best for companies and less well for financially needy students, with the employment situation and development issues within South Africa it in many ways benefits the country as a whole.

Though the number of South African bursaries available through the government and local entities are limited, they certainly do exist. A first stop for a South African student, as is the same with a student from most Western nations, is their university’s financial aid department. Colleges in South Africa often offer their own bursary schemes for enrolled students whom have shown promising academic progress in their secondary and post secondary educations. These programs, compared to the full rides often offered by large South African companies, are generally fairly small but are certainly useful to students seeking financial aid.

Picking up a bursary information packet from the financial aid office at a university will give students a wide array of available South Africa bursaries which they may be eligible for. Normally managed by individual institutions, applying to these bursaries is normally as simple as submitting applications to the financial aid department and waiting to hear back regarding award status. Applying to these programs should always be a first step and students should do this as early as possible so that they can better assess the amount of money they still need for college if their award amounts do not cover all costs.

The next step for many students still searching for financial aid would be the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) which offers loans to those who can demonstrate monetary need. These programs often start out as loans which are required to be repaid, but in many cases can be converted into South African bursaries. The benefit of conversion should be fairly plain – if converted to a bursary, NSFAS loans do not have to be repaid. Like local bursaries offered by individual colleges, the NSFAS program can be applied to through the university a student is enrolled in.

One of the greatest differences between South Africa bursaries and those offered more commonly in the West is the prevalence of private programs. These private programs are very often highly competitive and provide an immense amount of money for students often covering not only the entirety of tuition but also covering living arrangement, meals, and travel needs. Differing from the South African bursaries offered by the national government and individual colleges, private bursaries very often focus highly on individual skill sets which are needed by the offering company. Beyond this, students entering a bursary agreement with a private company are very often required to work for them after graduation until the approximate cost of their bursary has been repaid. After that, their services may be terminated or they may find a long-term employment position with the company who paid for their schooling. This program type has a lot of really great benefits, but competitiveness around such private offerings often means that only those students who show exceptional dedication and great academic merit will find their ways into the programs.

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