Join #Access to support Wits students
JOBURG - Wits University's Students' Representative Council (SRC) has launched its #Access campaign which aims to raise R10 million by the end of February to ensure students are able to register for the academic year.
SRC president, Nompendulo Mkhatshwa, said the campaign is aimed at covering the debt of students who form part of the ‘missing middle’.
“The ‘missing middle’ are students referred to as being too poor to be rich and too rich to be poor,” said Mkhatshwa during her address to hundreds of parents and students attending the welcome day held for new students at Wits. The missing middle refers to students who do not meet the criteria for National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding because they are just above the NSFAS threshold but are still unable to afford university fees.
The SRC president stated that contrary to popular belief, the missing middle is not part of the well-heeled middle class.
The #Access campaign seems to be heading in the right direction when it received a major boost of a R2-million cheque from Nedbank.
managing executive of client engagement at Nedbank, Anton de Wet, who said the donation is in line with the bank’s commitment to tertiary education across South Africa.
Wits University has joined hands with the student body on this ambitious endeavour. An estimated 8 000 students have outstanding debts, and the university stated that the bulk of these students are the missing middle.
To support this campaign, donations can be sent to:
Account name: Wits Foundation
Bank: Standard Bank
Branch code: 00 48 05
Account type: Business current account
Account no: 002 900 076
SWIFT code: SB-ZAZ-AJJ-480502
Reference: WitsSRC/Humanitarian Initial Surname
Details: www.witsfoundation.co.za
