Personal message

My name is Aphile Shabalala. I matriculated in 2021 with Honors Cum Laude and fortunately got accepted into Medicine (MBChB) at the University of Pretoria. I have completed my first 2 years of Medicine (MBChB), attaining adequate results with distinctions for certain modules on both years. Between my parents, only one is currently employed. Since my father got retrenched in 2020 due to COVID. This means that there is only one source of income supporting five people including two younger siblings who are still in school. I had applied for the University financial aid program for 2022 and 2023. Unfortunately, on both occasions my application was successful but there has not been any bursary offers available from internal or external donors to the University. For my 2022 fees I had to find a donor as a last resort in the beginning of 2023 and had to register 2 weeks later than my peers. I have also tried different avenues such as NSFAS who rejected me for both years as well as my appeals with the reasoning I exceed their household income threshold. Unfortunately, this places me as a middle-income student regardless of only having one parent working. Other bursaries have not offered me any assistance in the past but fortunately this year, I received some form of assistance from the IQRAA trust. They had offered me R40 000 out of the R140 000 I owe which is a huge sum of money. I am grateful for the assistance they have provided but I am writing to you in hopes of getting exposure and any form of further assistance in paying off my fees for 2023 or else I will not be permitted to continue into my 3rd year. I chose Medicine as the degree I want to pursue not just out of interest, but because of the shortage of doctors the healthcare system in our country is subjected to. It is something I have envisioned for myself, and I made sure to work hard to get the opportunity to be accepted considering how much of a competitive space it is. Alongside my need for financial assistance, I have proven myself to be a committed and zealous individual through all the accolades I have acquired in my academic career since high school, as well as my entrance into a competitive degree such as Medicine. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.