Strategies used by female university students in dealing with poverty

Abstract

Education is regarded as essential to the development of a socially and economically prosperous society. However, the general trend is that tertiary institutions have lower throughput rates. Poverty continues to impede the academic success of poverty-stricken students engaged in higher education. This study sought to examine, on an intra-personal level, the subjective experiences of a group of female university students who struggle with poverty while engaged in tertiary education. Data was collected through narrative questionnaires designed to elicit rich descriptions of the participants’ experiences. Twenty four students were selected through a convenient sample for the study. All the students attending a Student Counseling Centre (SCC) training event aimed at women were invited to participate. The findings imply that the students entering university and more particularly female students, experienced substantial and adverse poverty. The effect of these experiences on their emotional and academic functioning was profoundly detrimental. This article offers some practical recommendations in pursuit of exerting transformative change which focuses on intrapersonal subjectivity with regard to poverty. Therefore, any transformative efforts to redress inequality across the society should ideally be directed across multiple levels of intervention.