NSFAS, HELB and NELFUND Compared: Three African Student Loan Models

Three different models for the same problem

South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria all run national schemes that pay for public university and college study, but they close the funding gap in different ways. NSFAS behaves like a grant, HELB behaves like a classic student loan, and NELFUND sits between the two as a loan with no interest attached. If you study in one of these countries, or you are comparing what a similar scheme elsewhere in Africa might look like, the differences matter for what you owe after graduation.

NSFAS: South Africa's bursary model

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme funds students at public universities and TVET colleges whose combined household income is R350,000 a year or less , or up to R600,000 a year if you have a disability. Students who receive SASSA grants qualify automatically on the financial side. For qualifying students, NSFAS pays tuition directly to the institution and pays allowances covering accommodation, food, transport, and books into the student's own account. TVET college students receive their allowances into a bank account of their choice rather than the older NSFAS card. You do not repay NSFAS funding once you qualify and stay within your institution's academic rules. NSFAS does not fund private universities or colleges.

HELB: Kenya's loan and scholarship mix

The Higher Education Loans Board funds Kenyan students through a mix of loans and scholarships, allocated after a means test that places each household into a funding band. First-time applicants apply online through the HELB portal, usually linked to their KCSE index number and admission details. The loan portion carries interest, and repayment starts once you finish your course and find work, deducted through your employer or paid directly to HELB. Kenya's funding bands have faced legal challenges over how they classify students as needy or less needy, so confirm the band your household falls into and its current terms directly on the HELB portal rather than planning around a specific figure.

NELFUND: Nigeria's interest-free loan

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund was created under the Student Loan Act, which President Bola Tinubu signed in April 2024. NELFUND pays tuition and other approved fees directly to the student's institution and adds an upkeep allowance for living costs, paid to the student. Like NSFAS, NELFUND is limited to public institutions: public universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and approved vocational and skills-acquisition institutions. Private university students are not eligible. The loan carries no interest, and repayment only begins once the graduate is earning, with deductions structured around income and grace periods built in. By February 2025, NELFUND had disbursed more than N22.7 billion in institutional loans covering over 215,000 students .

Where each scheme came from

NSFAS traces back to a loan fund set up in the early 1990s and took its current name in 1999, before South Africa shifted most university funding from loans to non-repayable bursaries for qualifying students starting with the 2018 academic year. HELB was established under the HELB Act of 1995 and has run as a loan board for three decades, more recently layering scholarship bands on top of its original loan model. NELFUND is the youngest of the three, created by an Act of Nigeria's National Assembly and signed into law in April 2024, built specifically around an interest-free structure that earlier attempts at a Nigerian student loan scheme lacked.

How the three compare

Applying: what all three require

• A national identity number or admission number linked to your application

• Proof of household income or means-test documentation

• Confirmation of admission or continuing enrollment at an approved institution

• A bank account in your own name for allowance or stipend payments

• Annual reapplication or renewal, since none of the three schemes fund your whole course on a single application

Planning your budget around a grant versus a loan

If you hold an NSFAS award, your main planning task is staying within the academic progress rules each year, since losing eligibility mid-course is the real risk rather than a growing debt. If you hold a HELB loan, build the interest and eventual repayment into your post-graduation budget from the start, and check your loan statement yearly rather than waiting until you finish studying. If you hold a NELFUND loan, the interest-free structure and employment-linked deductions mean your repayment tracks your salary rather than a fixed monthly bill, but you still owe the full principal, so treat it as debt to plan around rather than money you can spend freely. In all three cases, keep your award letters, disbursement records, and any correspondence with the scheme, since you will need them if a dispute comes up over an allowance, a band placement, or a repayment amount.

What this means if you are weighing similar schemes

If your own country runs a comparable fund, look for the same three answers: does it convert to a grant when you meet the rules, does interest apply, and when does repayment start. A scheme that behaves like NSFAS removes the debt question entirely if you stay eligible. A scheme closer to HELB or NELFUND still needs a place in your post-graduation budget, even though NELFUND's interest-free structure and income-linked deductions are softer than a typical bank loan. Confirm the current figures directly with the scheme's own portal before you rely on any specific amount, since eligibility thresholds and band structures change between academic cycles.