NWU Auxilium fund helps students with food parcels

Students who receive financial aid can now also apply for food parcels from the North-West University (NWU) Auxilium fund, an initiative that has been helping students with short-term crisis food parcels for the past five years.

This follows calls for help after several students who already receive financial aid said that although they receive an allowance specifically for groceries, they sometimes have no access to basic food supplies. Many of these students have to send money back home to help their families, as well as cover other expenses such as prepaid electricity, threestreamsmedia reported on 8 September 2021.

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has been struggling to provide funding for the first three months of 2022, thus substantiating the need for the NWU Auxilium fund.

As of February, the application process for food parcels has been open to students who already receive a food allowance, for whom exemptions can be made according to personal reasons. These exemptions will be determined on a case-by-case basis and might include reasons such as sending money back home or having to provide for family members.

According to Johan Teessen (21), portfolio committee (PC) member of the Student Campus Council (SCC) finance and honours student in agricultural economy, the food parcels are available to any student who does not live in a campus residence.

Application forms are available on eFundi under the tab created for the distinctive Student Academic Chapters (SAC). After applying, students go through a selection process regulated by Almarie van Schalkwyk, administrative assistant to the director of student life at the NWU. If the student’s applications are successful, they are notified of where and when they can retrieve their parcels.

Teessen, who is the director of the Auxilium fund for the 2021/2022 academic term, said “the Auxilium fund is a great stress reliever on a student’s budget”.

Verney Eyberg (23), fourth-year BEd student and previous director of the fund, said that Auxilium aims to provide all NWU students with basic food needs. “The welfare of students is definitely one of the NWU’s top priorities.”

Even though help through the Auxilium fund is now available to more students than previous years, students should note that the fund is dependent on donations and thus the availability of parcels to all successful applicants are not always a given. Petro Boshoff, NWU social worker at student counselling and development, said that the NWU aims to help as many students as they can, but due to certain restrictions, it is not always possible.

In a previous threestreamsmedia article, Luvuyo Xabendlini, secretary of the student organisation SASCO, recommended that the various structures of the NWU should join forces if they want to combat the problem at hand.

Xabendlini’s solution was taken to heart in 2022, as the registration and orientation portfolio committee provided where NSFAS was not able to. NSFAS-receiving first years in campus residences received parcels filled with food and sanitation products to help them.

Students can access the application form for the Auxilium fund here. – Ané Janse van Rensburg en Jana Schlechter