High drop-out rate due to poverty

from The Times

SUBASHNI NAIDOO

Study reveals lack of finances as main reason for large number of students quitting university

A STUDY has found that a shocking 60% of students — mostly from very poor homes — dropped out of university.

The main reason was a lack of finance.

The Human Sciences Research Council’s Student Pathways study of 34 000 students at seven tertiary institutions, conducted in 2006 and 2007, showed that 20 000 of the students quit their courses, with only 14000 graduating.

Project leader Moeketsi Letseka said about 70% of the study’ s respondents came from extremely poor families, whose monthly income was R400 and R1600.

“Tertiary institutions require an upfront registration fee of R5000, an amount which is very difficult or impossible for these students to acquire,” said Letseka.

Other reasons for the high drop-out rate include:

# Female students falling pregnant and not coping with balancing the demands of being a mother and studying;

# Students finding campus life too boring and structured;

# Social and personal problems;

# Students having to care for sick relatives; and

# Peer pressure forcing them to make bad career choices.

Letseka said poorer students were considered “high risk” because they did not have the financial resources to provide the required bank collateral.

“They don’t qualify for the micro-lending scheme and are largely dependent on social grants and grandparents’ pensions .”

The study also showed that a large proportion of first-year students among the respondents overspent on designer clothes, partied excessively and consumed liquor irresponsibly.

High student debt plagues tertiary institutions across the country — R112-million is owed by students at the University of Johannesburg, while at the University of Fort Hare the figure stands at R35-million. Students at the Durban University of Technology owe R175-million.

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme , which was set up in 1991 to assist students who might be excluded from attending university for financial reasons, is owed almost R7.6-billion.

Said the scheme’ s spokesman, Linda Nhlumayo : “We have provided loans to 531442 students studying at universities and universities of technology in South Africa. Of these, 178375 have dropped out, with 40% dropping out after the first year, 27% after the second, and 33% of students dropping out after their third year of study.

“The NSFAS loan is only paid back when the debtor’s salary is above R30 000 a year. In effect, unemployed graduates who passed through the NSFAS scheme are not expected to pay their debt until they are employed and the income threshold is passed,” said Nhlumayo.

Deputy academic vice-chancellor at Wits University, Professor Yunus Ballim, said the university was focusing on improving its drop-out rates across its faculties.

“The key reason for students dropping out of university is due to poor academic performance. This usually occurs within the first year of study, and the drop- out rates are similar across all faculties,” said Ballim.

Higher Education South Africa CEO Professor Duma Malaza said many vice-chancellors, especially in the rural areas, repeatedly pointed out that they were challenged by students who struggled to focus on their studies because they don’t have enough money to feed themselves.

“The pursuit of higher education can only effectively take place when fundamental needs are met. A vicious cycle arises when students need to supplement their earnings by taking on extra part-time employment which results in them battling to cope with their studies,” said Malaza.

He said Hesa was in discussions with the Department of Education and the funding scheme to explore ways in which they could assist students .

“There may be ways in which we could collaborate with big business on converting loan schemes to bursaries based on successful completion of a year’s study,” he said.

Director of the Centre for Student Counselling and Development at the University of Stellenbosch, Professor Charl Cilliers, said general courses such as bachelor of arts, commerce and science showed a higher drop-out rate than specific courses such as medicine, engineering and health sciences.

“The main reason for this is because there is a definite relation between matric results and university. If a student produced good grades in school, then he or she has a better chance of securing a degree.”

He said while the university was fortunate to have an overall pass rate of 80% — which is 5% higher than the national average — the university was looking at more ways in which it could identify and assist those students who cannot cope.

The university was one of the first in the country to implement a tracking system to identify “students at risk”.

The difficulty in bridging the gap between schooling and tertiary education is one area that the Tshwane University of Technology is concentrating on in an effort to curb drop-outs.

It said recent research by the South African Higher Education Research and Development group shows the biggest predictor for first year drop-outs was a lack of progress, which related to academic unpreparedness for university.

“Communication was identified as a major stumbling block in the progress of students. This is not surprising when one takes into account that only 8% of the total South African population speaks English as a first language, the language which is primarily used in higher education institutions,” said spokesman Wille de Ruyter.,/span>