The 2025 NSFAS allowances disbursement process

NSFAS has granted Unisa an extension to disburse allowances for the first six months of 2025. The release date of the allowance is dependent on the official closing date of the registration period.

There are only two types of NSFAS allowances for Unisa students:

1. Learning Material Allowance (IA): Also known as a book allowance paid as cash. It may also be used to purchase other educational resources.
2. Incidental Allowance (IA): This is financial support for daily living expenses. Please note that this allowance is only paid to qualifying students registered for ten modules.

Capture your banking details

Unisa has designed a secure platform where funded students must capture their banking details.

A step-by-step guide to navigating this process:

• Access the platform by following the link sent to your myLife e-mail account.
• Enter your banking information: It is important that the bank account is in your name, since the bank account will be verified against your student ID number. No third-party banking details will be accepted. After submitting this information, your banking details will undergo a verification process by the bank.
• Do not share your access credentials with anyone.

Monitor your submission status

We urge you to actively monitor the status of your submission. This will reduce delays in the disbursement of allowances which may occur because of failed banking detail verifications.

Status abbreviations

The Unisa bank details platform uses different abbreviations to indicate the different stages of the verification process:

• SM (submitted but not verified by the bank): This means that your banking details have been received by the bank, but that the verification process has not yet been finalised.
• VI (verified by the bank): This means that your banking details have been successfully verified by the bank.
• RJ (failed verification at the bank): This means a rejected bank details verification process by the bank. You should immediately resubmit your banking details if you receive this status. Please ensure that you submit the correct banking details and only the bank account issued with your ID number.
• UP (updated by student after successful verification): It means that you have resubmitted your banking details. In this case, the new banking details will override the old banking details and you will have to go through the bank verification process again.