Non-Monetary Poverty: Addressing Issues of Student Deprivation in South African Higher Education

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7

Foreign Countries; Higher Education; Disadvantaged Youth; Low Income Students; Federal Aid; Graduation Rate; Student Needs; Undergraduate Students; Stress Variables; Human Dignity; Participation; Self Determination; Motivation; Social Networks; Safety; Well Being

South African higher education experiences low outcomes regardless of the significant financial investments made into the sector to address student poverty through financial aid. Concerning is that more than half of the low-income students who receive funding from the government do not graduate which points to the presence of other deprivations that are not financial. Despite the well documented adverse impacts of multidimensional poverty and non-monetary deprivations, there has been limited research on it in South African higher education. This study fills in this knowledge gap by exploring non-monetary deprivation and ways of addressing multidimensional poverty without necessarily increasing funding. The study uses the Capabilities Approach to argue for universities to give attention to non-monetary deprivation in their interventions aimed to address multidimensional student poverty. The study employed a sequential-mixed methodology that collected data using four focus group discussions, followed by an online survey that collected quantitative and qualitative data using a questionnaire. A total of 2306 undergraduate students who were selected from one university using a simple random sampling technique completed the questionnaire. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. This paper only focuses on the data from the qualitative survey, which indicates that nonmonetary deprivation is manifesting in the following dimensions: being able to live stress-free lives, dignity, participation, self-determination and motivation, social networks and being safe and secure. The study recommends that universities should consider reducing the effects of the non-material deprivations, such as mental health in order for students to flourish in higher education. [For the complete Volume 21 proceedings, see ED629259.]

As Provided

2023

ED629338