Top South African Student Loans

There are a lot of options out there for South African student loans. It can be difficult to figure out which is best for you. So, we’ll take a look at a couple of the best ones on the market. This in the hope that one day, your dreams – whatever they may be, lawyer, doctor, or accountant – become a reality.

FNB South African student loans in a nutshell:

They’re our top pick, partly because they’re the best implementor of a smartphone app to manage your accounts, loans, and so on.

They’ll grant you access to student loans between R4000 to R80 000 per year. Which is quite a nice scope as studying can be very expensive – especially at the top universities like Wits, Rhodes, and UCT.

The interest rate is personalised, which is a nice way of saying, “risk profile dependent”. However, you get to take advantage of the ebucks system and can bolster it by using FNB. Accumulate enough of those and you can buy some goodies off Takealot.com, which accepts ebucks as payment.

They’ll cover your tuition fees (obvs), but also textbooks, any equipment you might need, along with accommodation. This last one is a must because certain universities, like Rhodes, require you to stay on campus in your first year. It can work out cheaper anyway that staying off-site if you’re far from home.

(Although you may decide your own place is better because you get to throw awesome parties: however, it isn’t clear if they cover kegs. Probably not.)

Nedbank South African student loans in a nutshell:

Firstly, if you’re a fulltime student. you’ll need a guarantor, essentially a person who agrees to be your guarantee that you will pay back the loan. They can be anyone from one of your parents to a mob loan shark with a baseball bat, provided they have a Nedbank account.

They’re there to help you pay back your monthly instalments. What we recommend is a side-hustle, though, to make it more appealing for a guarantor to offer themselves as such to you. That way, you can also contribute. Anything from waitressing every odd night on the weekend to being a tutor (for high school students) could work here.

However, if you are a fulltime student, the guarantor only pays back the interest on the loan.

As for interest rates, these are profile dependent. Obviously, the riskier it is to give you a loan, the higher your interest rate will be – this is standard practice. However, Nedbank does offer flexible repayment options.

Standard Bank South African student loans in a nutshell:

They have a process called pre-approval, which is a bit like saying premarital sex. Just because you get it doesn’t mean you’re getting commitment. However, once you have pre-approval online, you can go into a Standard Bank branch to finalise process.

They cover all your tuition fees (again, obvs) along with books and any equipment you may need. Unfortunately, they don’t state that they cover accommodation, which could leave you figuratively (and literally) out in the cold. Especially if you don’t have accesses to other resources. This is a problem because it could involve you taking out a separate loan and that’s the last thing you want.

You’ll also be able to insure yourself in case of death or dread disease. The former seems small comfort since, well, one has other priorities when being dead. Like whether or not you’ll be able to sneak past the Pearling Gates. As for dread disease, well, you’ll definitely want insurance for that.

Life does have a nasty way of springing surprises on you and unfortunately, while you may think you’re immortal (we all do when we’re young), you’d be surprised by how many youngsters get seriously ill these days.

Summing up on South African student loans.

We hope this helps give you some idea on the best South African student loans for your studies. Think carefully before committing to any of them. The last thing you want is to score an “F” on your credit rating.