Outstanding Undergraduate Fees Campaign

My name is Moretelega, and I am a BCom general graduand from the University of Pretoria. Students face many challenges throughout their school years and for me, financial constraints were the most difficult part of my student life. Growing up in an 8-member household with only one breadwinner has geared me for the challenges of this world. My mother was an educator and had to support all of us with her salary as my father had to retire early due to illness. Due to my father’s decline in health, my mother’s further followed suit. She had to not only be a caretaker for after long hours at work, but she also had to take care of my father who kept unfortunately getting worse that even the doctors had lost hope and told us to prepare for the worst. My father’s death shook us to the core, and it seemed to have hit my mother more than we had thought as she ended up deciding to retire too. For all this time, we have been depending on her pension and it has not been easy as 2 of my siblings and me are at higher institutions of education training. NSFAS came through for me and my family and at least one load was lifted off her shoulders as my siblings are self-paying. Although it defunded me early in my final year, I had to persevere and hope my appeal would be successful as I suffered a great deal without funding. I had to move in with one of my sisters who lived far from school so I couldn’t commute to school every day and that meant I could only go to school when I had sit down monitored assessments. My appeal was approved towards the end of the year. I was grateful but thinking of how I suffered from depressive episodes occasionally due to being defunded most of the year, I couldn’t revel in the joy like I had initially thought I would. I managed to complete my degree at the University of Pretoria due to NSFAS, my dedication and the grand support I received from my family. Despite my father passing on due to suffering from a long-term stroke, losing ourselves amidst everything, bouncing back, and us having to adapt to the new arrangement, I have remained steadfast in my dedication to academic excellence. As hard as it was, I had to conquer through and fight to take up space and cement myself in the society. My grades had dipped but I fought and still fighting as I have witnessed firsthand the transformative power of education. Unfortunately, the financial constraints I face due to NSFAS not funding postgraduate studies have proven to be a significant hindrance to completing my educational objectives. This difficulty, on the other hand, has only strengthened my will and determination to succeed. I am motivated by a strong interest in internal auditing of which I am admitted for honours at the University of Pretoria as well as a strong desire to make a constructive contribution to my family, community, and beyond. I owe the university a lot of money and with my graduation coming soon, I cannot obtain my qualification without settling the outstanding fees. As is, my academic transcript is withheld and I therefore cannot apply for bursaries to at least help with the historic debt. I would appreciate anyone willing to assist me not to face financial exclusion so I can continue with my BComHons (Internal Auditing) so I can finally fulfil my dream of being a Certified Internal Auditor. Thank you in advance to anyone who will be donating or sharing my profile to potential donors. Also, thank you for reading up until this point.