CACH

The Central Application Clearing House (CACH) offers matriculants a second opportunity to secure admission into post-school institutions such as universities and TVET colleges. This essential service supports students whose initial applications were unsuccessful but who have since improved their final Grade 12 results. 

CACH collects information from learners with Grade 12 results who are looking for placement at a university, university of technology, or TVET college at the start of the year. Through the CACH sign-up service, candidates can register to be considered by institutions that have chosen to participate in the system. 

Institutions and sector education and training authorities (SETAs) utilize the CACH database for student placement. If available spaces exist and applicants meet the necessary criteria, institutions will reach out to them directly once they have accepted an offer through the CACH system. 

Managed by the Department of Higher Education and Training, CACH is a free service for both applicants and institutions. Since its launch in 2013, it has assisted thousands of students in securing placements at higher education institutions. 

Public universities, TVET colleges, SETAs, and private colleges can access the CACH database via a self-service portal to identify suitable candidates for remaining spaces. The system notifies applicants via SMS or email when they receive an offer, allowing them to accept or decline. Once accepted, the institution will contact the student directly to proceed with enrollment.

 What you need to know 

Sign-ups to CACH must be online on this website. 

Sign-ups will be open from a certain day every January until March. 

When completing a sign-up, you will need the following: 

1. A copy of your NSC/SC Certificate or Statement of Results. 

• You are required to enter your ID/Passport Number or Examination Number, Name, Surname and Date of Birth exactly as it appears on your NSC statement of results or your NSC/SC certificate so we can retrieve your final Grade 12 results directly from the Department of Education (DBE). 

2. Cellphone Number 

3. Email Address

• For communications at different stages in the sign up process e.g. on receipt of your sign up and to inform you of any offers you may receive. 
• If you do not have a valid email address, you will be given an option to create a gmail address for communications. 

Terms & Conditions 

1. Sign-ups for each academic year are accepted from January until March only from applicants whose National Senior Certificate (NSC) or Senior Certificate (SC) exam results can be successfully downloaded from the Department of Basic Education (DBE). 

2. Sign-ups will only be accepted via the CACH website (https://cach.cas.ac.za). 

3. The CACH service is FREE. 

4. Institutions will start making offers from end of January. It is in the applicant's best interest to submit their sign-up as soon as possible. 

5. Applicants must ensure that the ID/Passport or Examination number, name, surname, and date of birth they enter during the sign-up is the same as the one they used when they registered for the final NSC examination and the same as on their NSC Statement of Results/ NSC Certificate or SC Certificate. If it differs, the sign-up cannot be completed as we will not be able to download their NSC/SC examination results from the Department of Basic Education (DBE) database and match them to the sign-up information for institutions. 

6. A sign-up is valid only once all the mandatory information has been provided and the applicant's NSC or SC results have been downloaded from the DBE. Only then will the sign-up details be made available electronically to participating institutions. 

7. Applicants must provide the correct email address and cell phone number as these details will be used when CACH and Institutions send communications. 

8. Applicants are fully responsible for the information provided during their sign-up and for checking up on the status of their sign-up. 

9. Institutions have full and final responsibility for selection and admission decisions, not CACH. Offer messages will be sent to applicants via SMS as soon as we receive confirmation from institutions. The institution may also contact the applicant directly. 

10. All offers will have an expiry date and time. Applicants must respond to the offer message before the expiry date to avoid missing out on an opportunity. 

11. When an offer is made to an applicant, their sign-up details are temporarily removed from the CACH database until they have responded to the offer, or the offer has expired. 

12. An applicant is allowed to ignore and/or decline an offer. Once a total of three offers have been ignored and/or declined, the applicants's sign-up details will be removed from the CACH database and will therefore not be available to institutions any longer. 

13. Institutions have the right to withdraw offers if the conditions of the offer are not met and/or they discover that the applicant provided false information. 

14. CACH shall take all reasonable efforts to accurately reflect the information provided by institutions and applicants. However, should there be any errors of whatsoever nature (which are not due to our gross negligence), we shall not be liable for any loss, claim or expense relating to the error.