Surfpop Graduate Fund
This year Surfpop launched the three year pilot of the Surfpop Graduate Fund. It is a revolving fund to help Surfpop graduates, like Liyabona, access employment or tertiary education after high school. The interest-free loan is available to Surfpop graduates, who have shown good commitment throughout the Surfpop program. A graduate starts paying back two years after finding employment, which gives another committed Surfpop graduate the same opportunity.
Liyabona is the first graduate who has successfully made use of the Graduate Fund. It is evident that without access to the fund, she would have not been at university right now. Public universities in South Africa, which are covered by government bursaries, are severely space constrained with only space for 180 000 students per year, while 440 000 students leave high school with sufficient marks to qualify for studying a university degree. Liyabona had the required marks to qualify for university, which in itself is a great achievement considering the poor quality of teachers and infrastructure in township schools. Surfpop helped her apply for a government bursary to cover her study and accomodation expenses, but due to poor administration, government bursaries were paid out late. Without the fund, she would have not been able to pay the university administration fee, which is higher than the average monthly income in townships. The unfortunate reality for many university applicants from townships.
After registration the benefit of the Graduate Fund was again immediately evident. Within the first week we supported Liyabona with purchasing a laptop and essential uniform and equipment required to start the lab component of her studies. With the Graduate Fund, we also supported Liyabona with the move to the university residence. We continue to support Liyabona with a monthly living expenses stipend, and engage with her regularly to make sure she has all the support she needs to stay focused on her studies. Financial stress is the most important reason for the high univeristy drop-out rate in South Africa. Her mid-year marks are reflecting the effort that she is putting in with all her marks in the 70-80% range!