Poverty and structural constraints are preventing thousands of qualifying pupils from progressing into further study and accessing post-school.
This is according to a student confidence index conducted by the Professional Provident Society (PPS), a financial services company that offers insurance and investment solutions to graduate professionals. The findings are based on a national survey of more than 3 000 pupils
countrywide.
The matric class of 2025 achieved a historic 88% National Senior Certificate pass rate, with more than 900 000 matriculants writing the examinations. Gauteng recorded an 89.06% pass rate, while the Bachelor’s pass rate stood at 46%, producing a record 345 000 Bachelor-level passes, the highest number recorded to date.
Despite these gains, the survey indicates that success at school is increasingly failing to translate into opportunity after matric.
PPS Foundation trustee Ayanda Seboni said poverty-related pressures were closing doors for many students immediately after they qualify.
“We celebrate the resilience of the Class of 2025, but we must be honest about the reality. Too many young people who qualify for university simply cannot afford to study, cannot find safe accommodation or cannot learn on an empty stomach.”
She said the consequences extend beyond individual hardship and threaten South Africa’s long-term development.
“Hungry students do not become productive graduates,” Seboni said. “When we fail them, we weaken the skills pipeline that is meant to drive South Africa’s growth.”
Overall, the PPS Student Confidence Index recorded a sharp decline in student confidence over the past decade. It found that only 36% of students believe the education system prepares them for the future, a dramatic decline from 70% recorded in 2016.
According to the report, this erosion of confidence is driven by conditions beyond the classroom, especially structural constraints in the post-school system.
The survey documented widespread material hardship among students. It reported that 24% of students were unsure where their next meal would come from.
The study stated that “only 32% feel confident they will find a job after graduation”.
Limited capacity in higher education was identified as a major barrier. The study noted that despite the strong matric pass rate, only 235 000 first-year university seats will be available this year.
“With most applications having closed by September 2025, thousands of eligible learners will be left without a place to study.”
The PPS survey highlighted particular vulnerability among students in the so-called missing middle, those who fall just above the funding threshold of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
“These challenges are especially acute for the ‘missing middle’ – students who fall just above the NSFAS funding threshold but cannot afford rising tuition, accommodation and food costs.”
The report argued that the disconnect between academic achievement and economic opportunity requires urgent intervention.
Among its recommendations, the PPS Foundation said universities could boost residence capacity and partner with private developers to increase safe and affordable accommodation near campuses.
The government can also create targeted support mechanisms that better reflect household realities, ensuring students are not excluded simply because they sit just above the NSFAS threshold, the researchers recommended.
On student hunger, the report argued that “campus food programmes, subsidised meals, and emergency support systems can help prevent hunger from derailing students’ education”.
The survey comes at a time when student organisations are up in arms, arguing that poverty-related pressures confronting students were the result of governance failures and corruption within higher education institutions.
In a statement released this week, the South African Students Congress linked student hunger, accommodation shortages and mounting debt to the mismanagement of public funds.
“The ongoing challenges confronting students, including funding instability, accommodation shortages, and historical debt, are inseparable from these governance failures,” the organisation said.
“Claims of financial scarcity ring hollow when billions of rands remain mismanaged or unaccounted for. Students sleep in libraries and bathrooms whilst management renovates and refurnishes offices that students will never step foot in.”
Sasco said hunger and exclusion were being reproduced through deliberate governance choices.
“Public funds intended to support students are being withheld from the children of the working class and poor, while structural exclusion within higher education is reproduced,” the organisation said.
It called for the recovery of misused funds and for those resources to be redirected towards clearing student debt, subsidising accommodation and addressing hunger on campuses.
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