Rhodes University Undergraduate Financial Aid

Rhodes University Undergraduate Financial Aid

Financial Aid at Rhodes University is offered to South African citizens who are financially needy and who show academic potential.

The size of the award is determined by the family income, according to the NSFAS Mean Test, and families with an annual gross income in excess of R180,000 are seldom eligible for financial aid.

The closing date for Financial Aid Applications from students who will be in their second year onwards is the 30th September. Late applications will only be considered during the second week in January, immediately prior to registration, assuming funds are still available.

Although there is no closing date for applications from students for their first year of study, funds are limited and the earlier an application is submitted the more likely it is that the application will be successful.

Satisfactory performance in examinations. Should a student in their second year onwards not perform acceptably in the first semester examinations, it is possible that the Financial Aid Sub-Committee may not continue providing the student with financial aid for the second semester.

Students need to obtain a 75% subject pass rate in the final exams to be automatically eligible for financial aid for the following year. I.e. students need to have passed 3 subjects out of 4.

The value of the NSFAS award will be credited to the students’ fee accounts during the third term, once all bursaries have been awarded and paid in the students’ fee accounts. This is to ensure that the loans awarded are as low as possible. It is only in the third term that these amounts are claimed from NSFAS as to allow for bursaries and other funding to be credited to the student’s account as once a claim has been submitted these funds cannot be reallocated.

Up to 40% of a student’s NSFAS loan will be converted to a bursary based on the student’s subject pass rate at the end of the year. This bursary will be credited to the student’s NSFAS account during April of the year following the year of the receipt of the loan.

If a student’s account has not been settled at the time that the results are released at end of the year, the Financial Aid Office will not be able to access these results and will not be able to award Financial Aid for the following year. Please ensure that your student fee account is settled in good time.