Student decision-making about accessing university in South Africa

ABSTRACT

South Africa still faces inequalities with regard to access to higher education opportunities. Foregrounding student voices at one university, the paper compares how students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds make decisions about going to university. The focus is on those who have succeeded, but ideas can be extrapolated regarding those who do not make it. The argument draws on Amartya Sen’s capability approach to explore individual stories and the interactions between agency and the intersectional conversion conditions of possibility which shape the capability for university access. Narrative interviews show how students are enabled or constrained in their educational decision-making in relation to selves, schooling, family and income. Some implications are suggested for enhancing access, while not making claims for South African higher education as a whole.

KEYWORDS:

• University access
• capability approach
• intersectional conversional factors
• agency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. ‘Missing middle’ students on family incomes above ZAR 350 000 pa do not qualify, and nor do low-income students with grade 12 results good enough for an access programme but not good enough for financial aid. The issue of finance has therefore much improved but not gone away.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation [86540].