Question 1

Is VarsityOS free for students?

Accepted Answer

Yes. VarsityOS is free for every South African student. The free plan includes the study planner, NSFAS and budget tracker, savings goals, meal prep, work tracker and 20 Nova AI messages a month — no credit card required, and it works offline.

Question 2

Can VarsityOS track my NSFAS allowance?

Accepted Answer

Yes. VarsityOS tracks your NSFAS monthly allowance, expected payment dates, food, transport, accommodation and book allowances, and warns you when a disbursement is delayed so you can budget through the gap.

Question 3

Does VarsityOS work during load shedding or without data?

Accepted Answer

Yes. VarsityOS is an offline-first Progressive Web App built for low-data phones like the Tecno Spark. Your data, study plans and notes stay available during load shedding and sync automatically when you are back online.

Question 4

What is Nova?

Accepted Answer

Nova is the built-in AI companion in VarsityOS. It offers mental-health and wellbeing support, helps you plan study sessions and budgets, and answers questions about student life in South Africa. The free plan includes 20 Nova messages a month.

Question 5

Which universities and colleges does VarsityOS support?

Accepted Answer

VarsityOS supports students at all 26 South African public universities, the universities of technology, UNISA, private higher-education institutions and all TVET colleges — from UCT, Wits, UP, Stellenbosch and UJ to TUT, CPUT, DUT and every TVET college nationwide.

Question 6

How much does the paid plan cost?

Accepted Answer

Nova Scholar is R29/month (150 Nova messages, AI recipe generator, AI budget coach and AI study plans) and Nova Unlimited is R89/month (unlimited Nova messages, CSV export and first access to new features). The core app stays free.

Give every student a personal OS — free.

Institutional access application