27 March 2009
	THE FINE PRINT Legally speaking By Robert Quarshie

Before you put pen to paper and sign up for your bursary, make sure you know what's expected of you After pouring money into your academic career and opening doors for your future, companies are more than entitled to expect something back. The most basic of expectations will generally require that you pass, and that you pay the company back by working for it on graduation. As with any formal contract, you need to know what you're letting yourself in for before you sign up. "Obviously when you sign a contract both parties are bound," says Nthato Selebi, project director of the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants' Thuthuka Bursary Fund, which nurtures promising black and coloured accounting students from high school through university. "Many students don't think through the implications of signing up for a bursary and think they can use it as a stepping stone to obtaining a university degree, but there are strings attached." Mining giant Anglo Platinum, for instance, requires bursars who obtain their qualifications to work for the company for the same duration that they were sponsored at a tertiary institution. This can be daunting if you have a sudden change of mind about the profession you wish to follow. Breaking out If you don't meet the conditions of your bursary - or if you change your mind about working for the company after studying - you may find yourself without funding to complete your studies and will need to reimburse the company for the money spent on your studies, with interest. "We try all remedies and avenues before going the legal action route," Selebi says. "Our first port of call would be to get the student to seek advice and speak to assigned counsellors - or to their parents - to try to resolves issues leading to their dropping out. If the student is still adamant and has made up his/her mind about quitting, then we have to take action." Making the marks One of the conditions of bursaries, especially in professional disciplines such as actuarial science, is that bursary holders have to maintain their academic standards. Says Nkwanda Mkhize, executive director of the SA Actuaries Development Programme (SAADP), a project that aims to address the shortage of actuarial skills in the black community: "We have a simple condition at the SAADP: you have to pass all your courses with a minimum of 60%." After a careful selection process, the SAADP awards students with a comprehensive bursary and support for their studies over a four-year period. During this time, failing even one course constitutes a breach of the contract. "[In such a case], we would either suspend or fully withdraw the bursary from the recipient," Mkhize says. Where suspension is put into effect, the SAADP gives the student a year to prove him or herself - "but after that we withdraw", says Mkhize. Read the fine print Because a bursary programme will effectively determine your field of study and the career path you take, it's important that you give all matters pertaining to it due consideration - including how interested you are in that particular field. Then, when you receive your contract, make sure you read it thoroughly - and discuss it with your parents, university career counsellors or a trusted source. If there's terminology you don't understand, make sure you clarify it; if there are clauses that don't make sense to you, ask for an explanation. Once you've signed the document, it's too late to change it. In all likelihood, your bursary provider will also be happy to go through the finer details with you. "We go to great lengths to let the students know that it is a binding contract and that they need to read and understand the terms of the contract," Thuthuka's Selebi says. "We even send it to them a month in advance."