Hillensberg Trust Bursary at Unisa

Written by Keagan HendricksStaff Writer (Unisa Alumnus)

Reviewed & verified by Naledi KhumaloSenior Admissions and Bursaries EditorVerified

The Hillensberg Trust bursary is administered by the University of South Africa (Unisa) through its Division of Student Funding. You cannot apply for it in the ordinary way. Unisa invites students it selects from its own academic records, and the invitation arrives in the student’s myLife email account. Unisa lists the bursary under both its undergraduate and its postgraduate funding pages, with identical wording on each.

Which Unisa students get invited

Unisa’s criteria for the Hillensberg Trust bursary are:

• South African citizenship;
• undergraduate or postgraduate study at NQF levels 6 to 8, which runs from diplomas and degrees up to honours and postgraduate diplomas;
• an average of at least 60% in the previous academic year;
• temporary or full registration at Unisa by 31 January 2027;
• financial need, in the “missing middle” group: students from households that earn too much for NSFAS but too little to pay fees themselves.

Only students registered in certain fields are invited. Unisa names medicine, technology, visual arts, music and the Faculty of Health Science. It does not publish a list of specific qualifications within those areas. Students are ranked on academic performance, and Unisa warns that an invitation does not guarantee an award.

Costs the Hillensberg Trust covers

• Tuition fees
• Prescribed textbooks
• A transport allowance
• Other study-related costs
• A laptop, for first-time recipients only

Unisa does not publish a rand value, a cap on the transport allowance or the number of awards made each year. It also says nothing about repayment or work-back conditions.

Watching for the myLife invitation

Because selection starts with Unisa, the practical step for an eligible student is to register on time and keep checking the myLife inbox, because that is where Unisa says the invitation arrives. The date Unisa gives, 31 January 2027, is a registration condition rather than an application deadline, and Unisa does not say when invitations for 2027 will go out. After you respond to an invitation, the steps in our guide on checking your bursary status at Unisa apply.

Unisa’s student funding office also warns that bursaries are free to apply for. It says no genuine offer asks for a processing fee, your banking PIN, passwords or OTPs. Suspicious messages claiming to come from the university can be reported on the Unisa ethics hotline, 0800 075 278. Unisa’s wider range of support is listed on the University of South Africa provider page, and honours or master’s students should also read about the Unisa postgraduate bursary.

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