PORTFOLIO PROJECT ASSIGNMENT

ECAT 121
TEAM 112
TOPIC 2: HIGHLIGHT A CURRENT
STUDENT PROBLEM/CURRENT
NWU ACTION AND PROPOSE A
SOLUTION- FORMAL LETTER

STUDENT NO NAME EMAIL ADDRESS

30349737 OMPHILE, MOABI.OK@GMAIL.COM

KEITUMETSE MOABI

31827187 MBALI MNTUNGWA MBALIMNTUNGWA95@GMAIL.COM

PART 1
INSUFFICIENT FUNDING IS A SUBSTANCIAL CHALLENGE AMONGST
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Insufficient funding as the most pressing challenge to students.

Hereby a letter written by two students, both in our second year of study at the North
West University, namely Omphile Moabi and Mbali Mntungwa. We are writing this
letter to inform you about what we have noticed to be the biggest challenge amongst
students, which is lack of sufficient funding.

As students at the North West University, we have realized that insufficient funding is
one of the biggest drawbacks that students face. It has become evident that some
students are unable to secure themselves space at university because bursary
funders sometimes respond to student applications at a later stage. This therefore
leads to students being unable to pay for their registration fees on time and this has
a negative impact on the lives of students who are doing either distance or contact
learning. The alarmingly high tuition fees, accommodation fees (for students who
come from different provinces or even countries), books fees, transport and other
expenses such as food, can force students to end up taking huge loans with banks
or with the school. According to Nathan (2014:17), every time you borrow money,
you are only robbing your future self. Borrowing money that you do not have today
means that you are going to disable your future self from spending money you would
have had if you did not have to pay back it back.

Many students accumulate less than R1 600 a month. And most of these students
come from financially unbalanced backgrounds, in addition to that they need to
depend on their parents or guardians for financial support, to pay for their fees and/
or to supplement what they get from the government bursary(NSFAS), to provide for
essential living expenses. Many of those who dropped out indicated that they worked
to augment their meagre financial resources, no doubt adding to their stress levels
and distracting them from their studies (Letseka & Maile, 2003:5). The economic
position of our country plays a critical role in the lives of the people of the country
regarding certain things like, stable jobs, quality education and free education for
students that come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The financial issues lead to
students being unable to obtain their qualifications, because of the debts they have
with the school and this eventually means they cannot look for employment that is in
line with their qualifications. This often leads to major depression and anxiety.
Most of the time students with debts feel it is important to find a part time job while
studying to pay off their debts, but this might affect their academic performance
negatively. Poverty is one of the leading factors that hits students from
disadvantaged backgrounds very hard when they are at university. Poverty either
situational or generational makes it difficult for the students to afford some of the
essentials that facilitate learning in school, especially food. The misconception that
most people have is that these poor students are not intellectual enough to achieve
success and this is not the case. Most of them, if provided with the basic needs or
sufficient funding can be able to progress to high order skills (Thompson).
PART 3: THE SOLUTION

Struggling with finances can have a huge impact on the life of a student. As
mentioned previously, it affects everything, from their performance academically, to
the personal aspects of their life such as their diet plans or sleeping pattens.
Precedingly , 52% of students also said that this puts their mental health in jeopardy,
therefore affecting their day to day activities. According to Nelson Mandela (2003:
14), education is the most powerful weapon that we can use to change the world,
therefore everyone has the equal right to good quality education.

We are aware that this is a complex issue and that sometimes the institution may not
be able to attend to all student queries and needs at the same time, but they can
always show, through their actions that they are taking the necessary steps to
improve access to higher learning for all students. This means by supporting
students that are from differently abled backgrounds by providing them with the
equal opportunity to further their studies, regardless of their financial situations from
the point of admission till completion (Jackson, 2002:556). As previously stated, one
of the reasons why students are unable to get into university is because bursary
funders do not respond to applications on time, therefore the institution can ensure
that they place students from disadvantaged backgrounds as their first priority when
issuing funding. Another helpful step would be for the University to host programs
whereby, they educate students on the importance of managing their money and
ways in which they can avoid taking huge loans and being in debt while studying.

Universities need to always value the students’ academic performance and

accomplishments first over the amount of money they owe, this means that students
who have outstanding debts could be allowed to graduate and receive their
degrees, in this way they will be able to seek for employment and pay off their
outstanding debts. Another concerning issue is, as of October 2015- October 2016,
students went out in their large numbers and started the ‘’Fees Must Fall’’ movement
and protest, yet till date, November 2020, tuition fees, accommodation,
transportation and study material costs are still alarmingly high. Therefore one of the
other steps that universities can take towards solving this problem, is for them to co-
operate with students regarding their complaints and follow up on them by
implementing the necessary changes. In this case the necessary initiative would be
to lower the cost of tuition fees.
Registration fees should be affordable for all students, from all backgrounds.
The final important initiative the institution can take, is to consider recruiting their
Post Graduate students first, before employing people from the outside. They can
also try to create job opportunities within the University and prioritise their own
students, this ensures that they secure themselves employment and are at least able
to free themselves from financial stress and pressure.
REFERENCES
PART 1

 Letseka, M. & Maile, S. 2008. High university dropout rates: a threat to South
Africa’s future. Pp. 5.
http://www.hsrc.ac.za/uploads/pageContent/1088/Dropout%20rates.pdf. Date
of access: Mar. 2008

 Mooley. P. & Singh. R.J. 2015.Addressing student dropout rates at South

African universities. Edition no.17;91-115

 Morris. N.W.2002. Your 33-day money action plan. Available from

Amazon.com

 Muray, M.2014.factors affecting graduation and student dropout rates at

university. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/sajs. Date of access:11 Mar. 2014

 Thompson. J.G. 2012. What you can do for students living in poverty.
http://teaching.monster.com/counselors/articles/8164-what-you-can-do-for-
students-living-in-poverty

PART 3

 Bushi, R& Aozkenosy, J. 2020. What to do if you run out of money at

university.https://www.saveastudent.org/money/student_budgeting/7-ways-to-
cope-with-a-cash-crisis.html. Date of access: 11 Sept.2020
 Jackson, G.A., 2002. Financial aid and student enrollment. The Journal of
Higher Education, 49(6), pp.548-574.
 Pinto, M.B. and Mansfield, P.M., 2006. Financially at-risk college students: An
exploratory investigation of student loan debt and prioritization of debt
repayment. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 36(2), p.2.
 Sive.L. 2020. 8 Nelson Mandela quotes that inspire me everyday.
https://www.lionworldtravel.com/news/8-Nelson-Mandela-quotes. Date of
access: 18 Jul.2020