For many parents, a university acceptance letter feels like the finish line. Years of sacrifice, school fees and emotional support finally seem to pay off. Yet for thousands of South African families, that celebration is short-lived. In South Africa, only 31% of students complete a three-year degree in the minimum allocated time. For black African students, the figure drops to 27% and around 40% of students leave higher education without a qualification.
Most concerning is that almost half of these dropouts occur in the first year.
These outcomes are not simply about academic ability. Many first-year students struggle because they are unprepared for the personal responsibility that university demands. Unlike school, university offers freedom alongside extensive support systems that require student initiative to access. No one checks attendance. Deadlines are not negotiated. Poor decisions accumulate quietly until it is too late. Students who succeed are often not the brightest, but those who can manage themselves.
This is where personal leadership becomes critical.
Personal leadership includes self-discipline, time management, goal setting, accountability and resilience. These skills help students attend classes consistently, manage competing demands on their time, manage social distractions, cope with pressure and recover from setbacks.
Many first-year students experience failure for the first time at university. Without resilience and accountability, one poor test result can quickly lead to disengagement and withdrawal. Parents are often surprised to learn how quickly things unravel when students lack these internal skills.
Preparing a child for university is more than good marks. It means teaching them to:
- Manage their time without constant reminders
- Take responsibility for their choices.
- Persist when things become difficult; and
- Ask for help early rather than hide problems.
These lessons are best learned at home, long before a child sets foot on campus. The uncomfortable truth is this: academic success opens the door to university, but personal leadership determines whether students stay, cope and graduate.
If we want our children to survive and succeed in their first year, we must focus as much on who they are becoming as on the results they achieve.
Khwezi Nala Bonani
Ikhwezi Lokusa EduPath
