A total of 22 178 applicants have been awarded study loans by the Namibia Student Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) from a total of 30 124 applications received for the 2023 academic year.

Speaking to the media here on Tuesday, NSFAF Acting Chief Officer Kennedy Kandume said 16 000 of the awarded applicants have parents with incomes below the N.dollars 500 000 threshold combined annual income.

He said 15 807 applicants received loans for undergraduate programmes, while 6 064 were awarded for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and 307 for postgraduate funding.

Students have until 19 June 2023 to complete their applications by signing their awarding contract as per NSFAF regulation No 264. If students fail to do so, they forfeit the financial assistance.

“We are aware of challenges students face at times to access our online system as well general challenges associated with internet connectivity and tools for uploading. NSFAF staff members will thus be visiting various regions’ campuses to assist students to upload their contracts,” he said.

The acting CEO further informed the media that the current N.dollars 1.6 billion allocated is not enough and an additional N.dollars 400 million is required to fully cater for both continuous and new applicants.

He indicated that the bill for continuous loan holders is close to N.dollars 1.1 billion.

“NSFAF has committed to funding for students until completion of their duration of the study, hence we had engagements with our relevant stakeholders, minister of higher education and the minister of finance and it was agreed for NSFAF to get additional funds,” he noted.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency