All prospective* and current students who are South African citizens, or who have permanent residence status, can apply for funding from the University.

Students who come from a home with a gross household income (HHI) of less than R350 000 per year (R29 167 per month) – or a for a student living with a disability, a gross HHI of not more than R600 000 per year (R50 000 per month) – are advised to apply for the government-funded National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) bursary. This bursary is available to South African citizens and all SASSA grant recipients. Applications are done online via the NSFAS website, www.nsfas.org.za.

All prospective and current NSFAS-funded students must also apply to SU Funding Opportunities. The student is then registered on the CUBL database, which ensures you are considered for gap funding (costs not covered by NSFAS allowances) from the University. Gap funding includes top-up, shortfall, emergency, and/or graduate debt funding and it aims to bridge the financial gaps not covered by NSFAS.

IMPORTANT NOTE The University has limited funds available. An application for funding is not a guarantee that funding will be granted.

*Student has received a conditional or a final offer from Stellenbosch University (SU) and student has a unique, 8-digit SU student number

The Bursary Yearbook lists SU-managed as well as private company, trust, and government bursaries and funds. These are grouped by faculty, though we suggest that no matter your study programme, you at least also review all the listings in Section 1 (bursaries for study in most faculties) and in Section 3 (Faculty of Science). Any bursary offered across more than one faculty may only be listed under the Science faculty. Please take note of the differing closing dates and application processes.

All listings that state ‘Applications: my.sun.ac.za’ means you need to apply via the SU Funding Opportunities online site. The CUBL bursary officers select and/or nominate candidates according to these bursary-specific eligibility criteria and/or under funder-bursar conditions and instructions.

The process is online. No emailed applications will be accepted or considered.

Kindly be aware that the application site doesn’t store any information you provide until you reach the stage of uploading support documents. If you choose to exit the application form at any point before this, please be advised that you will need to start over again.

It’s therefore best to complete your application (ie, upload all your required support documents in one sitting) before the closing date. And then please check your mailbox on a regular basis – and also the spam folder!

IMPORTANT NOTE You will have the option to apply for SU Funding Opportunities or an External Student Loan. The student loan is an application to an external company, Student Hero, and is not managed nor administered by Stellenbosch University.

Please take careful note of the following information and support documents required to complete a funding application:

_formal employment latest salary slip (not older than 3 months) or ITA34
_informal employment affidavit that states the monthly income and includes the source of income (eg. vegetable seller, domestic worker, freelancer)
_self-employment bank statements clearly showing monthly income (and not older than 3 months) or ITA34
_unemployed affidavit (that states date since unemployed) or retrenchment letter or UIF slip

Applications for all ten SU external donor bursaries – as listed under the Types of Funding tab > SU External Donor Funding filter list – are now closed, as at 31 January 2024.

Applications for the 11 SU family bursaries – as listed in the Bursary Yearbook – closed 31 October 2023.

POPIA Each student will need to agree to the POPI Act (for personal information) and to consent to all documentation (proof of income, ID, certificates, bank statements, etc) being verified by an external service provider before being able to continue with an application.

Support documents Please make extra sure you upload the correct documentation when prompted.

The application form will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.

IMPORTANT NOTE You will have the option to apply for SU Funding Opportunities or an External Student Loan. The student loan is an application to an external company, Student Hero, and is not managed nor administered by Stellenbosch University.

After submitting your application, you will receive an auto-email to confirm your application was received.

All communication will be to your student email address, so please remember to check this inbox – and the spam folder – on a regular basis.

The first round outcomes for SU funding applications will be communicated by end-February 2024. For those students applying specifically for SU external donor bursaries, notification will be sent by end-May 2024. This communication is via email and will only be sent to the student’s email address.

Please note that if you apply or only finish uploading all your support documents in the re-opening period 2 Jan – 31 Mar 2024, you fall into the second round of funding consideration and will be notified of the outcome of your application by end-June 2024.

For any technical issues whilst completing your application, please email sufunding@studenthero.co.za with a screenshot or detailed desciption of the problem encountered. Please allow a 24–48 hr response time.

Technical issues refer to things like: unable to upload support documents; click-button not working; unable to log back on to complete your application; any error message during your online application process.

For general funding or document-type issues, please call SU Client Services on 021 808 9111 or email info@sun.ac.za for assistance – and remember to include your SU student number in the subject line, # / SUFO24 application query.

Office hours Monday to Friday, 08:30 – 16:00

Before you go to the online form, let’s quickly recap:

1. You’ve read each information section above to ensure that the information you provide is correct and accurate.
2. Each support document is labelled and saved as a pdf in a clearly marked folder, ready to upload.
3. You have at least 15 minutes blocked off on your calendar to complete the application form.
4. Please make sure select the correct funding option on the application form: SU Funding Opportunities.
   (The External Student Loan option is not SU-managed and you will be directed to an external site.)
5. The closing date will be midnight of Sunday, 31 March 2024. No emailed or late applications will be accepted or considered.