Page 11 - CAO Handbook 2026 Entry

afterwards and the day following the bank clearance of the administration fee, your application will be available to the institution/s to which you have applied. 2.1 When you apply online and pay via EasyPay, your application will be
made available to institutions the next business day after your funds
have been cleared by the bank.
3. Complete and submit your online application as soon as possible on our
website (www.cao.ac.za).
4. The CAO processes applications for member institutions from 01 March for
the following year’s January (First Semester) intake. The CAO processes applications for member institutions that have a Second Semester intake from 01 August for the following year’s July (Second Semester) intake.
5. For TVET College applications, contact the TVET college directly.
6. All supporting documents must be uploaded on our website
(www.cao.ac.za). We do not accept hard copies or emailed documents.
6.1. Ensure that documents are clear and legible. Illegible documents could
delay or jeopardise the selection process at institutions.
7. The earlier in the year you apply, the earlier you are considered for a place.
8. Your biographical details (ID number and Full Name and Surname) on your
application must be an exact match with the details that you register with the DBE to write the DBE-NSC Final Grade 12 Examination. If they differ, we will not be able to download your final examination results from the DBE database and match them to your application information at the institution to which you have applied.
9. An application is considered valid only once the full application including the programme choices, signed Declaration and Informed Consent (if you are under 18) as well as the full administration fee have been received by the CAO. Only then will your application be processed and available to institutions.
10. The official Received Date for the application will be the date on which the application becomes valid as explained in number 9 above.
11. Administration and Change of Mind (COM) fees are not refundable.
12. When completing an application, you must supply the correct email address and cell phone number as all messages are sent to you via SMS while all
1.4. IMPORTANT NOTICE AND TERMS AND CONDITIONS
letters are sent to you via email.
13. Without a valid current cell phone number, you will not receive any
messages from the CAO or institutions to which you have applied. Without a valid current email address, you may miss requests or offers made by the institution/s to which you applied.
14. The cell phone and email details we use are those on your original application or that you have since updated online AFTER you have applied. 15. Within two weeks after CAO receives your valid application (explained in number 9 above), we will send you an Acknowledgement Letter by email in which the CAO acknowledges that we have received and processed your
application.
16. The Acknowledgement Letter will have all the details you have provided
on your application. Applicants are fully responsible for checking their acknowledgement letters and updating any errors, omissions or changes online on our website www.cao.ac.za by clicking on the ‘Update My Details’ icon so that we have the correct information.
17. If you do not update any errors, omissions or changes within one week after we have sent you an Acknowledgement Letter, the CAO shall accept that all the information in your Acknowledgement Letter is correct and as complete as you want it to be.
18. If you have not received an Acknowledgement Letter by the end of two weeks after you have applied and paid the full administration fee, you must contact the CAO. (See page 3 for contact details).
19. We provide your information to institutions electronically. The institutions have full and final responsibility for selection and admission decisions, not the CAO.
20. All selection and admission decision queries must be directed to the respective institution, not to the CAO. The CAO does not make selection and admission decisions.
21. Institutions will contact you directly with their selection decision. Sometimes institutions request that the CAO also convey a selection decision to an applicant, but the communication received directly from the institution must be regarded as the institution’s official notification.
CAO HANDBOOK ENTRY 2026 7