What study funding might you qualify for?

NSFAS · SASSA verification

Which SASSA payments count?

For the 2026 NSFAS automatic financial-eligibility rule, NSFAS defines a qualifying SASSA recipient as someone who receives — or received within the previous three years — a Child Support Grant, Foster Child Grant or Care Dependency Grant.

SRD does not count for this automatic rule. The 2026 guideline expressly excludes Social Relief of Distress and the special COVID-19 SRD grant from this definition.

What “verified” means: NSFAS checks qualifying grant status against SASSA/third-party data. You do not become fully NSFAS-eligible just because the grant is verified; it means you automatically meet the financial test. Institution, approved qualification, registration, citizenship/residence, academic and other rules still apply.

The current application guidance says Child Support, Foster Child and Care Dependency grant status can be verified automatically, so no separate grant proof is normally required for those statuses.