Boost for middle class students

Access to higher education is set to be expanded for the benefit of thousands of students experiencing funding challenges at universities.

Nyasha Njela, resource mobilisation manager at online student crowdfunding platform Feenix, said so following a move by the department of trade and industry to revise broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) codes of good practice this May.

The amended legislation, which requires that 2.5% of the department’s annual payroll be spent on funding higher education, is set to come into effect in December.

Njela told City Press last week that her organisation would help students, especially those from the so-called missing middle, to tap into this benefit.

These are students who are not covered by fee-free higher education disbursed through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) because their household income totals more than R350 000 per annum.

She said her organisation had in the past connected businesses with qualifying students.

“Feenix started two years ago and has since welcomed 124 business funders and 1 470 individual funders. They have collectively raised in excess of R27.5 million for more than 900 students,” she said.

Feenix is liaising with different stakeholders to make sure that its solutions are relevant and collaborative in nature.

“The department of higher education and training’s Nsfas programme focuses specifically on students whose combined household income is R350 000 and less. Feenix supports the missing middle students who do not qualify for Nsfas but are unable to afford the high cost of tertiary fees, those with a combined household income of less than R600 000 per year,” she said.

She said her organisation was working with corporate companies and smaller businesses in various sectors such as engineering, mining, law, accounting and information technology.

Their business model, she said, helps students to tap into the potential of their own social networks as well as other communities across the country to raise the money they need to pay off existing study debts or to pay for current studies.

Students do so by creating an online profile on the Feenix platform and then leveraging on that and other social networks to raise funds. The students’ legitimacy is verified using their certified university fee statements.

Njela said the amendments to the BBBEE scorecard were a positive step towards addressing the challenges of access to education.

In terms of skills development, she said the amendments had a specific focus on supporting students in higher education.

“This will encourage companies to provide funding for previously disadvantaged students, for which they will earn up to four points on the scorecard,” she said.

The amendments also include a revised code 300 for the skills development generic scorecard, an indicator for employed and unemployed learnerships.

Njela said Feenix carried out a vetting process for each student to ensure that all relevant documents required for BBBEE verification were obtained.

“The process is a simple, efficient and effective one that allows us to match the right students with the right sectors and corporates.”

She said they have a database of graduating students and those in search of internship programmes.

“We’ve had a number of companies that have approached us, funded a student and ended up offering them a place in their internship programme.

“The amendments will make a major contribution to higher education in South Africa. The long-term benefit of this is that we’ll have an educated nation that is able to make informed decisions, one that is able to actively participate in the economy,” Njela said.

Jo-Anne Hay, founder and director at Human Nature Consulting, another crowdfunding organisation, believes that the need to address job creation and funding challenges drove the amendments.

She said the previous target of 6% of the leviable amount for generic enterprises had been split into:

• 3.5% (six points) to be spent on learning programmes, whose implementation will be the same as for the 6% target prior to the amendment; and
• 2.5% (four points) to be spent on the new indicator for skills development, which is expenditure for previously disadvantaged students at basic and higher education institutions.

Hay said there was a specific emphasis on providing bursaries and support for basic and higher education.

“The 2.5% target is a significant part of the skills development scorecard and corporates will need to focus on this to maintain their required BBBEE levels. It would be beneficial for corporates to instead concentrate on their core business and work with an organisation such as Feenix to ensure the effective allocation of funding,” she said.

Read: This ‘crowdfund’ has raised R27m for student fees. Its impact is enormous

One of the challenges for businesses that choose to contribute to bursaries is identifying and vetting students within their sector and managing the administration of the funding and support payments.

Hay said the compliance needed to claim this spend for BBBEE was specific and it could be challenging to obtain the documentation required from a student. The process is likely to require a large amount of paperwork and communication across various channels.

Are you a registered student in need of funding for your studies or have historic debt? Visit feenix.org to create a profile and start your fundraising journey. Stay in touch on social media or make contact on WhatsApp at 063 308 5355.

Msindisi Fengu Journalist | City Press

+27 11 713 9001 Msindisi.Fengu@citypress.co.za Media Park, 69 Kingsway Road, Auckland Park

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