A Case of Parenting Students: Experiences of Financial Struggles and Support in South African Public Universities

Early childbearing is a global concern that is largely concentrated in less developed nations. Evidence suggests that teenage parenthood remains a problem that hinders crucial Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) as Student-parents are likely to drop out of school, in turn worsening the state of underdevelopment in Third-World countries. Girls are more vulnerable to losing educational opportunities due to unplanned pregnancies. There is a need to explore avenues that could be employed to ensure that Student-parents are retained within the educational system. This study explored the experiences of young student-parents: young men and women attending universities while raising a child. This study focused on student-parents who were able to pursue higher education in a South African University despite their early childbearing experience. This was done by employing qualitative exploratory research that included in-depth semi-structured interviews of 20 purposively sampled participants from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in the year 2018. This study guided by the ecological systems theory uncovered that early childbearing was a highly prevalent issue that was linked to detrimental outcomes such as school dropout for women. However, Student-parents of this study through various support such as National Student Financial Aids Scheme (NSFAS) were afforded the opportunity to pursue education. There is a need to explore and improve available financial support and other structures that would encourage Student-parents to continue with their education.