As the name implies, Child of Employee or Dependents Bursaries are offered by companies for the dependents of their permanent staff. Only some companies offer these bursaries. Usually, the company’s Human Resources (HR) department governs the conditions and awarding of these bursaries. The purpose is to allow employees, particularly those who fall into the low- and medium-income brackets, to be able to afford quality education for their dependents. Each company will have its own criteria and bursaries may differ in the extent to which study costs are covered. The funding may therefore be a full or partial bursary.
Career Wise administers a number of these bursary schemes on behalf of the sponsoring companies. Information about qualifying requirements for employees can be obtained from the respective company’s Human Resources (HR) department. Dependents should ask their parents to confirm with their HR department which level of study are covered or even how much funding is available i.e., organizations like Tiger Brands fund bursaries for the children of their employees through the Thusani Trust.
The children of employees or dependents will need to proof that their parent or guardian works for the organization which might be include the following information: work identifiable number, title of the parent or guardian, address of the organization with contact information or even job grade. Once the employee or guardian information can be verified the dependents can be interviewed against the criteria set out by the sponsoring company.
Final awards for the funding is confirmed by the HR department of the sponsoring company, then all other administrative activities are conducted by Career Wise e.g. agreement orientation and document collection, payment of allowances and fees at the academic institution where the dependent is registered and lastly campus progress visits.
The following may be requirements for any employee-related bursary: certified copies of the applicant’s and employees’ ID, school or academic results, proof of acceptance or admission at an accredited South African tertiary institution/school, proof of the program you are accepted for; a letter of motivation; proof of parent/guardian’s employment at the funding company. Additional requirements may be in place e.g., proof of financial need (i.e., a prescribed income bracket or employment level), academic merit (i.e., specific mark criteria), specific tertiary institutions (i.e., only public institutions) etc.
Note: If a bursary recipient is under the age of 18 their parents will need to play an ongoing active role in the administration of the bursary.
Note: Please consider the following about Dependents of Employees bursaries we administer at Career Wise:
- They are only available to South African citizens and permanent residents, unless stated otherwise.
- They are intended for study programs at South African public institutions but may also have provisions for study at private tertiary institutions. Please visit the Universities South Africa (USAf) website https://www.usaf.ac.za/ to see full list of 26 public institutions.
- They are only provided for undergraduate As mentioned, some companies sponsor primary school and high school however this is by exception.
- The employee will need to provide information to prove that they are still currently employed by the sponsoring company or organization. Please note that Career Wise will verify this with the HR department of the sponsoring company.