My name is Selowa Rodney, 22 years of age, from Polokwane in Limpopo. I passed matric in 2017 at Mangoako Secondary School. I had financial struggles in my first year in 2018 at University of Venda. I had no bursary to aid my studies due to the lack of information. During my time at high school I never had the opportunity to attend career exhibitions and as a result I had problems of choosing a certain vocational discipline or opportunity. I had to enrol at University of Venda without any financial aid because I never had the opportunity to be told about financial support or to apply for funding. My financial struggles were bad because I was coming from a remote area or deep rural village from a poor family.

My financial struggle was worsened by my former high school principal as he never tried to create opportunities for my class. I did not have a bursary to fund my studies or pay my tuition fees at university and as a result of not having a financial aid, I lost the opportunity to get an accommodation on campus or at the accredited accommodation of the university because only first years entering who had applied for funding were eligible to get accommodation because it was going to be paid by their  financial aid. I did not have the opportunity to have study materials such as prescribed books, laptops or even a smart phone to interact on social media platforms with my class. In my first year the lecturer used and are still using WhatsApp as a social media platform to communicate with the students and send electronic study materials such as PDF guidelines.

The year was not easy to complete. It sometimes affected me emotionally because I had no one to cry to or seek help from because I was coming from a poor family and being the first child in my family to go to university. It was not easy for me to cope with the situational environment. My parents were not in a good standard of finance.  My dad was the only one working and during my matric year my mom had an idea of saving some money to assist me in 2018 although the money was not enough because it was affected by my travelling when I went to different institutions looking for a space.

My financial struggles were so harsh that I could not afford accommodation to reside in. The one I managed to rent was too risky, even though I had no gadgets if a break-in had to occur. I tried to do late applications of lesser financial aids but there was no luck and I had to stay strong and strive to complete the academic year without funding. It was difficult to put something in my stomach because I had less capital and l lived according to a budget. My financial struggles had a less effect on me after I returned to university and a student shared the same story as mine. This made me very motivated and I studied very hard without funding. I completed my 2018 academic year with Cum laude and flying colours. My results were far better than my fellow peers who had financial support.

I made myself and my family proud even though it was sometimes difficult to view my results after exams. I think we as a country need to strive to create opportunities for the youth by sharing useful information for the future. Financial struggles have a bad effect on the youth of South Africa. It tends to increase poverty, violence and crime in the community and the unemployment rate increases because majority fails to cope with this challenge.