{"id":59600,"date":"2024-01-15T17:06:54","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T17:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/new-r3-8-billion-fund-for-south-africas-missing-middle"},"modified":"2024-01-15T17:29:52","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T17:29:52","slug":"new-r3-8-billion-fund-for-south-africas-missing-middle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/new-r3-8-billion-fund-for-south-africas-missing-middle","title":{"rendered":"New R3.8 billion fund for South Africa\u2019s \u2018missing middle\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>The Department of Higher Education and Training has announced that it has created a R3.8 billion fund within the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) aimed at assisting the country\u2019s \u201cmissing middle\u201d students.<\/p>\n

According to an announcement made by the department\u2019s minister, Blade Nzimande, the new Comprehensive Student Funding Model introduces measures to support a wider-ranging category of students \u2013 including those who are currently not supported by the Nsfas bursary and funding policy.<\/p>\n

This new category is for students whose families who have a total income of more than R350,000, but not more than R600,000 per annum.<\/p>\n

Previously, Nsfas funding was only available to households falling in the low-income category (>R350,000 p\/a). Between 2019 and 2022, Nsfas disbursed R123 billion worth of loans for 2,918,624 beneficiaries.<\/p>\n

According to the most recently conducted National Income Dynamic Study, it is estimated that 85.6% of all households fall in the low-income category, and 11% of households fall into the missing middle category.<\/p>\n

This newly-introduced category by Nsfas \u201cwill ensure that the missing middle students will now be able to access financial support from government in a form of a loan to pursue their studies,\u201d said Nzimande.<\/p>\n

The Comprehensive Student Funding Model is said to be implemented in phases. The first and current phase (2024 \u2013 2025) allocates a total of R3.8 billion. R1.5 billion is from the National Skills Fund (NSF), and R2.3 billion is from the Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis amount will fund 47% of the missing middle students, that is, 31,884 of the estimated 68,446 missing middle,\u201d said Nzimande.<\/p>\n

Phase two (2025 \u2013 2034) of the funding model seeks to increase government funding contribution from R31.6 billion to R42.1 billion over ten years \u2013 approximately equating to an increase from R3.1 billion to R4.2 billion annually.<\/p>\n

In order to qualify for the government loan, certain requirements and conditions have been announced:<\/p>\n

Students household income must be between R350,000-R600,000;<\/p>\n

Funding is for TVET and public university students;<\/p>\n

For undergraduate or postgraduate students;<\/p>\n

70% allocation for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programmes;<\/p>\n

30% allocated for humanities programmes; and<\/p>\n

Students must be willing to sign a loan agreement.<\/p>\n

Conditionalities:<\/p>\n

Students can apply across their years of study, but are expected to get a 60% pass rate (average);<\/p>\n

Support includes tuition, learning material and accommodation;<\/p>\n

Students who obtain 70% or above on average and within the prescribed time will get a 50% reduction on loans on request.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Department of Higher Education and Training has announced that it has created a R3.8 billion fund within the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) aimed at assisting the country\u2019s \u201cmissing middle\u201d students. According to an announcement made by the department\u2019s minister, Blade Nzimande, the new Comprehensive Student Funding Model introduces measures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":59599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-59600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nNew R3.8 billion fund for South Africa\u2019s \u2018missing middle\u2019 - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Department of Higher Education and Training has announced that it has created a R3.8 billion fund within the Nationa ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/new-r3-8-billion-fund-for-south-africas-missing-middle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New R3.8 billion fund for South Africa\u2019s \u2018missing middle\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Department of Higher Education and Training has announced that it has created a R3.8 billion fund within the Nationa ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/new-r3-8-billion-fund-for-south-africas-missing-middle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-15T17:06:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-15T17:29:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/01\/sm_1705327046.792417.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/new-r3-8-billion-fund-for-south-africas-missing-middle#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/new-r3-8-billion-fund-for-south-africas-missing-middle\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"New R3.8 billion fund for South Africa\u2019s \u2018missing middle\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-15T17:06:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-15T17:29:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/new-r3-8-billion-fund-for-south-africas-missing-middle\"},\"wordCount\":413,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/new-r3-8-billion-fund-for-south-africas-missing-middle#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/01\/sm_1705327046.792417.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/new-r3-8-billion-fund-for-south-africas-missing-middle#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/new-r3-8-billion-fund-for-south-africas-missing-middle\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/new-r3-8-billion-fund-for-south-africas-missing-middle\",\"name\":\"New R3.8 billion fund for South Africa\u2019s \u2018missing middle\u2019 - 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