Professor Francis Petersen, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria (UP), urged donors to the University to continue to help ease the plight of students caught in the ‘missing middle’ in relation to paying their fees.

“One of the pressing issues we face, as a university, but also as an education sector, is what I call the student funding challenge. And this particular funding challenge is called the ‘missing middle’ funding challenge,” Prof Petersen said at a UP event held that honoured the University’s donors.

He explained that the missing middle “is a group of students who fall just above the income threshold for government financial aid, who cannot afford the full cost of university education. Their families earn too much to qualify for [government financial] assistance.”

Professor Francis Petersen addresses donors at the Javett-UP Art Centre. 

The missing middle, as described by Prof Petersen, consists of students from households that earn between R350 000 and R600 000 per annum. “They can’t access NSFAS [the National Student Financial Aid Scheme], and we as institutions and companies are working together to be able to help those students.”

He told the gathered donors that their contributions have helped ease the financial burdens of many academically exceptional students, who might not have been able to grow their academic talents without the donors’ help.

In his address, Manchidi, a prominent UP donor, said, “One of the key realisations is that potential is all over South Africa. But sadly, in a South African context, potential seldom leads to opportunity.” He added that “what we are all thinking about, is what we do to facilitate and support opportunity that enables people to become active economic participants, because when you are active economically, your sense of purpose, aspiration, dignity, and your confidence, returns to you.”

Gugu Khumalo, a student who received funding, also attended the event. “Getting financial aid really gave me an opportunity to pursue my studies even beyond undergraduate level,” she said. “I was able to do my honours [degree], for which I was fully funded, and I was able to do my master’s [degree], fully funded as well… It really opened doors for me. I am the first graduate at home [and] I am the first graduate to have a master’s degree at home.”

Speakers emphasised that, thanks to funding opportunities such as those provided by UP, its donors, and other partnering institutions, many UP students are being uplifted and enabled in ways that affect not just them, but their loved ones, as well as the economy and professional sector that they will eventually continue to pursue.

For more pictures of the event, click here.