This article contains an update on the South Africa Student debt fundraising initiative as at the year 2022.
According to an article by Mail & Guardian on Sept 1, the current student debt at all universities and higher institutions accross South Africa has hit an outrageous amount of R16.5 billion and even beyond. As a result of this, an organization called the USAf came up with an initiative in the form of a fund raising project. This has been going on for the last 2 years and has now been able to raise an excess of R1,152,002,876 that will make it possible for at least 27 000 students to be able to pay off their debts and assist those studying with fees and other learning materials. This is according to a statement released by USAf on 21st of October 2022.
This was made possible by the following entities:
- Absa Group; Standard Bank Group,
- The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET);
- The Industrial Development Corporation of SA;
- Various Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) such as Education Training and Development Practice SETA; Wholesale and Retail SETA; Safety and Security SETA; Bank SETA; Services SETA; Food and Beverages Manufacturing SETA; and the Finance and Accounting Services SETA.
Dr Linda Meyer (left), Director: Operations and Sector Support at USAf, said the journey was not easy and thanked the donors for standing with USAf through the difficult times in trying to raise these funds.
She went on to say that it gives her great delight that the promise she and Professor Ahmed Bawa, USAf’s former CEO, made to the Board in 2020 not only came true but exceeded the set target. She also expressed her gratitude to all USAf and university staff for their efforts in implementing donor-funded projects across the Academy.
“We still have 120 000 students that are unable to graduate because of debt owed to universities. We may have solved a small margin of the problem, but it has made a difference to the lives of 27 574 students and their families.”
Seeing the impact this pledge has made in the lives of students that benefitted — restoring hope and changing their future trajectories positively, USAf will continue its fundraising efforts as mandated by the Board. The organisation is currently in talks with existing and prospective funding partners to further make more difference to the students in need.
“Our focus is on securing multi-year agreements to support poor and missing middle-income students (undergraduate and postgraduate) that do not qualify for National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) or National Research Foundation (NRF) financial support,” concluded Dr Meyer.
