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Dear Lucien

Thank you for your question regarding bursaries to study in the Western Cape.

I am so sorry you are feeling frustrated at the process of looking for financial assistance as a foreign student. There are a number of reasons why applications for bursaries are turned down. Most funds have very scare resources and so to help them make decisions they have very strict criteria and rules they need to apply. These are usually excellent school academic performance, the type of qualification they support (for example, engineering and accounting) and how needy the family is. When you apply for a bursary you are competing with hundreds of applicants for a small number of bursaries.

Also before you can even apply for a bursary you need to make sure you meet the admission requirements for the course you want to register for. We suggest you use the following list of Western Cape public education institutions to find out what the admission requirements are for foreign students: 

Western Cape FET Colleges:
• College of Cape Town (http://www.cct.edu.za)
• False Bay College (http://www.falsebaycollege.co.za
• Northlink College (http://www.northlink.co.za)
• West Coast College (http://www.westcoastcollege.co.za)
• Boland College (http://www.bolandcollege.com)
• South Cape College http://www.sccollege.co.za/

Western Cape Public Higher Education Institutions
• Cape Peninsula University of Technology (www.cput.ac.za)
• University of Cape Town (www.uct.ac.za)
• University of Stellenbosch (www.sun.ac.za)
• University of the Western Cape (www.uwc.ac.za)

If you meet the entry requirements for the qualification you are interested in then contact the Financial Aid Office of the university, university of technology of further education and training college where you plan to study for information on the bursaries and loans you may be eligible to apply for.  They generally also provide information about funding sources, expected costs and strategies for balancing your study budget.

Some organizations also provide bursaries and scholarships. However, these usually only specific application criteria for example some bursaries require you to study commerce, science or engineering degrees with majors in computer science, information systems and various engineering and technology disciplines.  Try some of the following:

• Study Trust: http://www.studytrust.org.za/,
• African Scholars Fund: P O Box 294 Rondebosch 7700, email address: office@asf.org.za

Another good source of bursary information is the Career Planet bursary page to (http://www.careerplanet.co.za/_pages/bursaries). Please make sure you meet application deadline dates and the admission requirements. The dates given are the date that the bursary scheme should receive the application, so post your application forms at least a week in advance of the due date.

We hope this information will assist you to gain access to the academic qualifications you are looking for.

Lynn and the Career Planet Team