General Rules & Policies
1. Financial Aid or GAP funding will be cancelled if the fee account is in credit due to other sponsorship over payments.
2. Where allowances are paid to you in error due to available information, you will be required to re-pay the money to your UCT fee account failing which, you will owe the institution and further allowance may be stopped. Example: allowances paid and then full funding received from a sponsor.
3. Students intending to move out of a University Residence into private accommodation will need to submit a motivation for approval to Student Financial Aid to vacate the University Residence (only in exceptional cases will be considered). This must be done before any change, as accommodation information submitted to NSFAS cannot be readily changed.
4. UCT residence and private accommodation costs is intended primarily for students whose home address is outside of the greater Cape Town area. Students whose home address is in the greater Cape Town area and who wish to stay in UCT residence or private accommodation must submit a written motivation to the SFA Office to have these costs covered before signing into residence or signing a lease agreement. The SFA Office will confirm the outcome in writing. If the motivation is unsuccessful, and the student moves into residence or private accommodation, the cost of the accommodation will be borne by the student. If the motivation is successful, then the student does not have to re-submit a motivation the following year.
In terms of NSFAS Funding policy, University accommodation is the first option, and any private accommodation must be accredited through the University processes. Note that NSFAS may take over the accreditation of private accommodation from 2024.
5. The funding of Summer and/or Winter Term courses is not automatic, but by separate application. The costs of accommodation for summer and/or winter term is not covered.
6. Personal payments or bank loans (non-sponsor payments) made to the fee account will reduce UCT and GAP funding. No reimbursements will be made for personal payments or loans.
7. Not exceed the minimum duration (n) of the undergraduate programme plus 1 years of study (n+1).
8. Students may not change their programme of study without written approval from SFA.
9. Eligibility for renewal of funding programmes will be subject to passing the required credits/courses as defined in the NSFAS Funding Policy. The same eligibility for renewal is applied by UCT for GAP funded students.
10. Academic exclusion automatically cancels eligibility for renewal and is not reinstated if the Readmission Appeal is successful.
11. The University reserves the right to act and withdraw all funding if such funding was received because of fraud.
12. Allowances are payable to students subject to NSFAS decision on paying students directly or through the University allowance payment process.
13. NSFAS may require students to register with NSFAS for private accommodation that is accredited by NSFAS. Please monitor NSFAS social media platforms for information on the NSFAS 2025 private accommodation requirements that will apply to UCT students.
14. Where NSFAS requires UCT to manage private accommodation, students are still required to meet the accreditation requirements. Students who chose to stay in accommodation that is not accredited, will not be eligible for a rental allowance.