THE Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Service (TSLS) has suspended new scholarship applications for semester two and quarter three intakes after it onboarded almost 1300 more students than its planned allocation for the year.
TSLS chief executive Dr Apisalome Movono said the service had expected to support about 9000 students but had already onboarded almost 10,300 students which resulted in available scholarships for the 2025-2026 financial year being fully utilised.
He said the decision was made to manage available funding after demand for scholarships increased following strong Year 13 results last year.
“We’re given a fixed budget to work from, and because our Year 13 students did exceptionally well, 95 to 96 per cent pass rate, so that’s almost 9000 students coming fresh out of Year 13,” he said.
Dr Movono said the suspension did not mean scholarships were stopped, but was a routine measure based on student numbers and available resources.
He clarified the suspension did not affect students already receiving TSLS support and existing sponsorships would continue as normal.
Dr Movono said most tertiary institutions usually accepted new students at the beginning of the academic year, making semester two intake less common.
“This is normal. This is routine.”
He said TSLS was grateful for the increased allocation of $160million for next year which would help manage future demand.
Dr Movono said future scholarship numbers would depend on available funding and the needs of tertiary institutions.
