Financial Inclusion For SA’s Students Starts With Accessible Payment Solutions 

Joining nearly 4.5 million other academic students that are further along their educational journey, these numbers show a steady annual growth for our country’s university learners.

With the world’s highest unemployment numbers, it is encouraging to see the younger generation prioritising tertiary studies. Education, and more specifically higher education, is an important driver of both economic and individual growth. Collectively, education can alleviate poverty, unemployment, and income equality.

From an individual perspective, a higher education degree significantly lowers a graduate’s risk of being unemployed, with only 2.1% of South Africans with a university degree without formal employment (Source: Bizcommunity). Once they secure a job, a graduate’s future earning potential also vastly increases. A Stats SA study shows that a tertiary certificate improves potential earnings by 67% and a bachelor’s degree by 330%.

These benefits make higher education both an individual and economic imperative to divert the tide away from generational poverty and towards a transformed society. Financial inclusion of South Africa’s higher education students and those that support them financially is essential to realise this.

The banked and underbanked dilemma
According to the World Bank, financial inclusion is defined as ‘individuals that have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs, delivered in a responsible and sustainable way’.

Despite South Africa having one of the most developed and sophisticated financial sectors in Africa as well as the highest level of financial inclusion in Africa, these statistics refer to our country’s banked population. With the advent of digital payment solutions, the concept of financial inclusion must go beyond the adoption of financial products to include availability, affordability, and usage of financial services.

This is particularly true for university students, who each face unique financial circumstances to ensure their tuition fees are paid.

From learners who are personally responsible for payments, such as student loans or part-time work, to those who receive financial support from their parents or extended family, access to seamless payment solutions is critical. For many, a combination of financial resources is used to pay tuition fees, including electronic payments, cash, and digital wallets. Although the increase in financial applications and payment portals have provided an abundance of choice, it has also created certain challenges.

Solving tuition pain-points with Pay@
Firstly, cash remains king for a large sum of parents and families who pay tuition fees. This often leads to travelling long distances, entrusting students to pay the cash towards tuition, and the risk of theft.

Secondly, students, parents, families, and even universities are faced with a massive network of retailer, digital, and banking payment options. Instead of convenience, this abundance of stand-alone financial solutions causes failed transactions, an inability to track payments, the need for financial education, and more stress and worry for consumers.

Fortunately, these pain-points have been bridged for the educational industry with Pay@, a seamless payments service provider. As an integrated payment solution, Pay@ provides one customer-facing platform to make and receive cash payments, digital payments using an app or a QR code, banking app transactions, and EFTs. This enables the banked and underbanked to make monthly tuition payments safely and conveniently.

Students and those responsible for tuition fees can now be financially included in South Africa’s economic hub with a reliable payment partner that understands the importance of customer centricity, no matter the generation.