R250 / month
Keeps a student connected, fed and able to get to campus each month.
- Monthly data bundle
- Meal support on campus
- Toiletries and sanitary products
- Quarterly impact update
What We Do
Our Programs
Four kinds of practical support for South Africans studying after school — enough to get through registration, through the year, and through to a qualification. And one flagship goal: 100 fully funded students by 2030.
Who we support
After school, only
We Aspire funds people who have finished school and are studying at a university, a university of technology, a TVET college or a registered private college. Every programme on this page is built around what it actually costs to hold a place at one of those institutions.
Pillar One
Registration and Fee Support
The distance between an acceptance letter and a seat in the lecture hall is usually a registration fee. We pay it, and we pay it directly to the institution so there is a receipt for every rand.
We also take on the balances that quietly end a qualification: the shortfall a bursary does not cover, and the historic debt that stops a student registering for the next year or collecting the certificate they have already earned.
- ✓ Registration fees at universities, universities of technology and TVET colleges
- ✓ Tuition shortfalls that NSFAS or a bursary does not cover
- ✓ Historic debt that blocks re-registration
- ✓ Outstanding balances that keep a completed qualification locked away
R59bn
is owed to South African universities and colleges in unpaid student fees. More than 165 000 students cannot collect a certificate they have already earned.
Department of Higher Education and Training and Universities South Africa, presented to Parliament, May 2026 [sources]
A withheld certificate is the cruellest version of this problem. The student did the work and passed the course, and still cannot apply for the job that would let them pay off the debt.
Pillar Two
Devices and Connectivity
Post-school study assumes a laptop and a data bundle. Lectures are streamed, assignments are submitted online, and prescribed material sits behind a login. A student without a device is not behind on one task. They are locked out of the whole course.
We supply a device matched to what the qualification actually needs, and we keep it connected for the academic year rather than handing it over once and walking away.
- ✓ A laptop or tablet suited to the course requirements
- ✓ A monthly data bundle for the full academic year
- ✓ Printing, software and online assessment costs
- ✓ Basic repairs, so one accident does not end a year
Pillar Three
Getting There and Staying There
Tuition is the headline cost. It is rarely the one that ends a qualification. Students leave because the taxi fare ran out in week six, because there was nothing to eat before a three-hour practical, or because the basics simply stopped being affordable.
This programme covers the ordinary monthly costs of actually attending. It is unglamorous, it is cheap next to tuition, and it is often the difference between a student finishing and a student quietly disappearing.
- ✓ Taxi or bus fare to campus for the term
- ✓ Meal support on campus
- ✓ Toiletries and sanitary products
- ✓ A basics pack for students moving into residence
Pillar Four
Ready for Work
Most qualifications end in a placement. Nursing students need a uniform, engineering students need safety boots, education students need something to stand in front of a class in. No kit, no placement. No placement, no qualification.
We cover the clothing and equipment a course formally requires, and the one decent outfit a graduate needs for the interview at the end of it.
- ✓ Uniforms, lab coats and safety boots a course requires
- ✓ Clothing for work-integrated learning and teaching practicals
- ✓ One interview outfit, properly fitted
- ✓ A warm jacket for early winter commutes
12,2%
unemployment for people holding a degree, against 22,2% with a diploma or certificate, 35,7% with only matric and 37,6% with no matric at all.
Statistics South Africa, Quarterly Labour Force Survey, Q1 2026 [sources]
Nothing else we fund moves a number like that. Finishing a post-school qualification cuts the chance of being unemployed by roughly a third, and finishing a degree cuts it by two thirds.
Our Headline Goal
The We Aspire 100
One hundred students at universities, universities of technology and TVET colleges — each with 100% of their qualification funded, by 2030. Not a single term. Not a portion of the cost. Tuition, books, a device and living support, paid in full until they graduate.
Fully funded
Next to be funded
Awaiting a sponsor
That single gold circle is not a projection. It is a real student, enrolled at university right now, whose tuition, textbooks, laptop and monthly stipend are covered in full because our journey started in 2026. The remaining 99 circles are the work ahead of us.
A Four-Year Journey
The Road to 2030
We are deliberately honest about where we are. We would rather show a funder one real, fully funded student than a large number we cannot stand behind.
Every student we add is a permanent commitment — we fund them through to the qualification, not for a single year. That is why 100 by 2030 is ambitious, and why we need partners rather than once-off gifts.
2026 · Where we started
Registered, and our first student funded
We Aspire is incorporated as an NPC (2026/101143/08) and commits to funding 100% of one student's qualification. That student is enrolled and funded today.
Now · The work ahead
99 places still open
Each new partner takes one circle on the grid from grey to gold. We publish the count honestly, updating it only when a student is genuinely funded.
2030 · The goal
100 students, fully funded
One hundred South Africans whose entire post-school qualification was paid for — and a model we can hand to any organisation that wants to do the same.
Sponsor a Student
What Your Monthly Gift Covers
Clear, honest numbers. This is exactly what each level of monthly support provides for a student.
R500 / month
Covers a meaningful share of one student's academic year — fees, transport and materials.
- Contribution toward registration or tuition
- Transport to campus for the term
- Textbooks, printing and assessment costs
- Monthly essentials pack
- Quarterly impact report
R1 000 / month
Fully funds one student and turns a grey circle gold on The We Aspire 100 grid.
- 100% of one student's qualification
- Registration, tuition, books and transport
- Laptop and monthly data
- Write a letter to your student
- Named as a Founding Partner of the 100
Prefer to give a once-off gift or donate items instead? See all giving options →
Claim One of the 99
One circle is gold. Ninety-nine are still grey. Every programme on this page runs on ordinary people deciding that a young South African's qualification is worth investing in.