All prospective and current Undergraduate students who are South African citizens, or permanent residents can apply for SU funding. You will need your 8-digit SU student number to access the online application form.

Students from households with a gross annual income of less than R350,000 qualify. For students with disabilities, the threshold is a gross annual income of less than R600,000.

NSFAS-funded students are encouraged to also apply for SU funding, in case they are defunded by NSFAS. If this happens, the student will be registered on our database and eligible to be considered for top-up or shortfall funding from the University.

IMPORTANT NOTE The University has limited funds available. Applying for funding does not guarantee that funding will be awarded.

The Bursary Yearbook includes both SU-managed and private company, trust, and government bursaries and funds. These are organised by faculty, but we suggest reviewing all listings in Section 1 (bursaries for study in most faculties) and Section 3 (Faculty of Science), regardless of your study programme. Any bursary offered across more than one faculty may only be listed under the Science faculty. Please check the different closing dates and application processes for each bursary.

All bursaries marked with “Applications: SUFO” mean you must apply through the SU Funding Opportunities (SUFO) online application portal. Our bursary officers select and/or nominate candidates based on these bursary-specific eligibility criteria and/or under the funder-bursar conditions and instructions.

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

Please note that the online application portal does not save any information you provide until you reach the stage of uploading supporting documents (section 8). If you exit the application form before this (i.e., before completing section 7), you will need to start the process again.

It is best to complete your application in one sitting and we recommend doing so well before the closing date. Remember to check your @sun mailbox regularly, including your spam folder for any application updates.

IMPORTANT NOTE You will have the option to apply for SU Funding Opportunities or an external student loan. The student loan application is processed by an external company, Student Hero, and is not managed or administered by Stellenbosch University.

We recommend all your required support documentation, including certified copies where required, are prepared and ready to upload before you begin the online application. This will save you time when you’re online. Save your prepared documents in a clearly labelled folder, for example, SUFO application.

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

_formal employment latest payslip (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

There are ten bursaries are listed under the Types of Funding tab > SU External Donor Funding filter list – and detailed in the table below.

There are 11 Family bursaries listed in the Bursary Yearbook and are detailed in the table below.

The online application form provides clear, step-by-step instructions to guide you through the process. Completing the form should take approximately 15 minutes.

POPIA Each student must agree to the POPI Act (for the protection of personal information) and consent to the verification of all documentation (such as proof of income, ID, certificates, bank statements, etc.) by an external service provider before proceeding with the application.

Supporting documents Please ensure that you upload the correct documentation when prompted.

After submitting your application, you will receive an automated email to confirm that your application was received.

All communication will be sent to your student email address, so please remember to check both your inbox and spam folder regularly.

Should you be successful and awarded a bursary, you will be notified accordingly. The communication will include details of the respective bursary award, and the next steps required to ensure a successful allocation of the bursary. 

Please note that if you do not receive notification of a bursary award for 2025 by the end of November 2025, you should consider your application unsuccessful. 

For any technical issues whilst completing your application, please log a ticket on the SU service desk portal: Once you have signed in, select Student Finances > Undergraduate Bursaries > SU Funding Opportunities – and remember to include your SU student number in the summary field before you submit your query.

Technical issues refer to problems such as being unable to upload supporting documents, non-functional buttons, difficulty logging back in to complete your application, or encountering any error messages during the online application process.

Alternatively, you can contact the Student Finances Client Service team on 021 808 3530.

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

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

1. You have read each information section above to ensure that the information you provide is correct and accurate.
2. Each supporting document is labelled to include your SU student number as a prefix and saved as a pdf in a clearly marked folder (SUFO application) on your computer.
3. You have at least 15 minutes set aside on your calendar to complete the application form.

Please ensure you select the correct funding option on the application form: SU Funding Opportunities. (The External Student Loan option is not managed by SU and will redirect you to an external site.)