R4.65m boost for UFH students
A GROUP of “missing middle” students from the University of Fort Hare have received much-needed financial support for their tuition fees, thanks to a scholarship fund provided by one of the country’s major banks.
Sixty students from Fort Hare studying in commerce, humanities, engineering, science and technology this week benefited from Absa’s CEO Scholarship Fund worth R4.65-million.
Absa’s citizenship manager Andy de la Mare said the fund formed part of the education and skills development pillar of the bank’s shared growth strategy.
The investment this year has benefited 3 000 university students across South Africa, 500 of whom are studying in the Eastern Cape.
De la Mare said this year Absa had injected R21-million into the Eastern Cape’s Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Rhodes and Fort Hare universities.
A combination of academic performance and financial need was used to identify students who qualified for the scholarship.
“Many of the qualifying students either have very limited financial resources or fall within the missingmiddle category of students, whose parents or guardians can only afford to pay a portion of the required university fees. Successful applicants also benefit from the leadership and psycho-social support offered by the programme,” De la Mare said.
One of the beneficiaries of the scholarship is Aphiwe Sonkwele, a 22-year-old from Ntabankulu, a BCom accounting student at Fort Hare East London campus.
Sonkwele’s application for a loan from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme was not approved.
“I did not know how I was going to pay for my studies . . . But now that I have received this scholarship my studies will continue as normal and I thank God for answering my prayers,” he said. —