NSFAS N+2 Status Meaning

NSFAS N+2 Status means that students only have N+2 years to finish a degree. “N” refers to the minimum number of years allocated to complete a qualification (i.e. record time), and the “+2” refers to the extra two years that a student may need and use to complete the qualification (making the maximum time).

For example: where a qualification is three years, the university will allow you to complete it within a five-year period, with the extra two years being the [+2]. When NSFAS states the reason for your unsuccessful funding application as: ‘you have exceeded the N+2 rule’, this means you have been studying longer than the minimum allocated time for your as well as the extra two years you have been given to complete your qualification.

It is important to further note that, the N+2 rule is not based on the number of years that a student has been funded, but on the number of years that the student has been registered for tertiary study at any public university in South Africa, regardless of institution change. This means that if a student has transferred from one public university to another, regardless of whether they were funded by NSFAS at the first one, the number of years already registered for the qualification will be counted as part of the N.