• UCT Online High School has greatly reduced its application and placements fees for Term 3 2023 and Term 1 2024.
• Instead of R350, applications will cost R50 and instead of R2 500, placement will cost R525.
• These changes only apply to the National Senior Certificate (NSC) curriculum and not to the Cambridge and Adult Matric curriculi.

Now well into its second year of operations, the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Online High School says it wants to make its education more affordable. A branch of the University, it emerged out of demand for more affordable, online-only education after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fees for both applying and placement at the school have been greatly reduced, while its monthly school fees continue to remain quite affordable compared to in-person public and private institutions.

“In our pursuit of creating affordable education opportunities we’ve decided to reduce our application and placement fees to ensure that we make enrolling your learner at the high school as affordable as possible,” the institution says in an email.

The new fees are as follows:

• Application Fee – R50 (previously R350),
• Placement Fee – R525 (previously R2 500).

UCT Online High School says that the change in fees will apply to all Term 3 2023 and Term 1 2024 applications for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) curriculum. This curriculum will cost R2 195 per month.

The fee changes, however, do not apply for the Cambridge International and Adult Matric curriculum.

UCT Online High School came under fire for a series of bugs and technical issues at the school during the 2022 academic year. These ranged from reported errors during exams and inability to access end-year results.

The school uses technology and software from Cape Town’s Valenture Institute, which was recently honoured in a list of the world’s top digital learning companies. Only two African companies were included on the list.

Angry parents took to the media to air their greivances. Many claimed the hiccups in the school’s system hindered their children’s ability to complete the year and that because of this their children were suffering from mental health challenges.

In response the institution said that technical issues were expected for its first year and that it was ironing out all issues for the 2023 academic year.

[Image – UCT Online High School]