The financial cost incurred in commuting between home and the campus grounds between study breaks can be prohibitively expensive for many impoverished students, particularly those who study at institutions of higher learning that are located outside of their provincial home towns.
This is particularly true for many students from Limpopo and Mpumalanga, who, owing to a lack of tertiary institutions in those provinces, are compelled to travel long distances to enrol and study at tertiary institutions based in Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Free State and the Western Cape.
The cost of commuting is a blind spot and a cost factor that is not covered by the available financial aid schemes.
Mindful of the need to plug the expense gap for travel costs, Olimoflo, a not-for-profit organisation, has launched an innovative financial assistance scheme that covers these sundry transport costs for indigent students.
Olimoflo is a subsidiary of The Allure Group, a Johannesburg-based reputation management company headed by Limpopo-born founder, Bonnke Shipalana. This financial assistance scheme which is aptly known as Standing in the Gap, was launched on August 1, 2023. It covers commuting expenses for students facing financial hardship to travel from their homestead to university campuses.
The financial assistance will be allocated based on the merits of each case, and each application for financial assistance will be assessed on a needs basis. Standing the Gap is only open to students based in Limpopo and Mpumalanga who are studying at accredited institutions of higher learning across South Africa.
At the heart of this initiative is the conviction that no deserving student should be hindered from pursuing higher education due to financial constraints. Eligible students will receive assistance to cover the costs of various transportation modes including bus fares, train or airplane tickets.
Shipalana explains: "The cost of higher education is prohibitive for many parents and guardians who are either impoverished, unemployed or are part of the missing middle who lack enough disposable income to cover expenses such as commuting, which are not catered for by available financial aid schemes.
“Standing in the Gap strives to fill this gap of much-needed financial support for students who reside far away from their education institutions and therefore incur substantial costs when they have to commute between their homesteads and university campuses. We believe that by providing this support, we can alleviate the financial burden from hard-pressed parents and guardians and relieve students of the anguish of the costs of commuting to enable them to focus on their studies.”
Shipalana points out that parents and guardians often focus on the fixed cost of education such as tuition fees, accommodation, textbooks and stationary, but don’t factor in miscellaneous expenditure such as commuting expenses incurred by student to travel between their homesteads and their places of accommodation at university campuses.
“Being away from familiar surroundings at home and having to acclimatise in a foreign landscape is hard enough, but having the additional anxiety of worrying about travel expenses is even more daunting. The costs of commuting from UCT (University of Cape Town) to Giyani or Bushbuckridge during study breaks, or to attend to a family emergency such as a funeral can be very costly particularly for a student who comes from an impoverished background. Standing in the Gap gives reassurance to these students that their travel expenses will be covered,” Shipalana adds.
This campaign is part of Olimoflo’s ongoing dedication to empower communities and promote educational equity. The organization firmly believes that education lays the foundation for personal and societal growth. By eliminating the financial obstacle of transportation costs, Olimoflo strives to level the playing field, enable students to strike a study-life balance and provide equitable access to education.
The cost of higher education is prohibitive for many families in South Africa. According to data from Old Mutual, the average cost of sending a graduate to university in South Africa is R55 900 in 2023, which is expected to accelerate to R95 700 by 2030 – and reach R177 200 by 2038.
These fees apply to first-year studies for 2023 and only act as an approximation and exclude other costs such as textbooks, travel and residency.
To learn more about the eligibility criteria, application process, and key dates associated with the "Standing in the Gap" campaign, interested students and parents are encouraged to send motivation to [email protected]