The Department of Military Veterans

Education Support benefit

The Department of Military Veterans' core purpose is to support military veterans and dependence thereof for their contribution to South Africa. DMV seeks to provide educational support to financially eligible military veterans and dependents registered on the DMV Database through bursary funding who meets the requirement.

The bursary covers full cost of study to students registered in institutions across the country in various fields of study.

Courses covered

In general, a student is eligible for support towards any single undergraduate qualification.
Post graduate qualifications: The DMV no longer supports post graduate studies.

Requirements

The applicant must be registered in the National Military Veterans database.
The applicant must be formally registered to study for an approved funded programme at a public institution and meet the financial qualification criteria, before education support award will be confirmed.

What does the bursary cover?

The bursary covers the maximum prescribed benefit for tertiary education support for each qualified student, per academic year, subject to the annual maximum threshold (R88 600) and covers the following:

Registration and tuition costs (subject to maximum benefit).
Prescribed books/electronic material or prescribed course equipment and material, including stationary subject to the maximum benefit.
Laptops/Notebooks limited to 1 (one) for the duration of study registered for as a once off only subject to a maximum benefit.
Accommodation at a cost not exceeding R3 500 per month for 10 months per annum, for students residing beyond a 50km radius from the institution of study (subject to maximum benefit NB This is applicable to students studying full time only. (No distance learning and/or online students).
Distance learning student shall not qualify for accommodation or meal allowances, (e.g. UNISA Students) only tuition, books, stationery, laptop and living allowance of R2 750 as a once off for an academic year.
Transport allowance provided to fulltime students who are not provided with accommodation or accommodation allowance or are living at home at a cost not exceeding R7 500per annum as determined by the institution.
Meal allowance not exceeding R15 000 for 10 months per year provided to full time students who are supported with accommodation with self-catering service.

Medical sciences

Students who are pursuing their studies in the medical sciences field: Biomedicine, MBCHB, Veterinary Sciences etc, many apply to be funded above threshold. The DMV will reserve the right to approve this application based on availability of funds.

Repayment

This is a full cost bursary; beneficiaries are not required to repay the funds either through money or stipulated services.

It should be noted that as per Education Support Agreement, the student is given only one (1) chance to repeat if the learner failed during the duration of the studies, failing which the Education support will be terminated.

As such, the education support award is not intended to enhance any existing financial support provided by other organisations.

Students who are funded by other organisations are urged to withdraw from the DMV support by signing a withdrawal form available with NSFAS funder relations. Should that be known the support will be terminated immediately.

NSFAS partnership

NSFAS has been appointed to financially administer the DMV bursary funding, since 2013 and its roles and responsibilities are set out in an approved MOA that was signed on 01 October 2020. To date, the DMV has funded more than 500 graduates through this partnership.

For more information, visit the NSFAS website