The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande, has announced that two million students have been funded through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme since 2013.
According to a statement on Monday, this includes 194 353 university students which have been supported in the 2017 academic year, with 78 413 covering first time entrances and 115 940 for returning students.
The department said the two million includes students in vocational Education and Training Colleges with college funding envisaged to increase once this academic year concludes.
Nzimande said Nsfas has also employed additional resources to accelerate the process while restating goverments commitment to finding the resources to support children from poor and middle class families.
"It is important to note that these figures will increase after the conclusion of all pending funding decisions. In this regard, NSFAS has employed additional resources to expedite the process" He said.
The total number of students who were supported by the government each year at universities were as follows:
2013 - 194 923
2014 - 186 150
2015 - 178 961
2016 - 244 488
TVET College beneficiaries were allocated as follows:
2013 - 220 978
2014 - 228 642
2015 - 235 988
2016 - 225 864
