Standard Bank UCount Rewards members can now earn Rewards Points and donate them to the school of their choice or pay their family’s school fees, in partnership with School-Days®.
UCount Rewards, through the generosity of its customers, hopes to provide much-needed financial relief to schools in the country. Customers can use their UCount Rewards Points that they earn whenever they spend using their qualifying Standard Bank personal Credit, Cheque or Debit cards towards paying school fees, donating to their schools, or supporting an underprivileged school that could really do with the help.
Collecting school fees has been a great challenge for schools — both public and private. Some parents are battling to make the payments and schools and teachers are under pressure as a result.
While there may be signs of recovery from the economic outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic, the reality is that many South African families continue to feel the financial pinch.
“The cost of living is rising, but household incomes are staying the same, or increasing marginally, making it difficult for consumers to cover the costs of expenses such as debt repayments, transport and education fees,” says Fayelizabeth Foster, Head of Loyalty & Rewards at Standard Bank.
“At Standard Bank, we understand that every rand and cent counts. We want to make it as easy as possible for our customers to save where they can, so that they can get their families through school and to help relieve the financial burden on the education system,” Foster explains.
Not only can Standard Bank customers use or donate their UCount Rewards Points to a beneficiary of their choice via the School-Days® app or website, but by joining School-Days® as a member and spending at School-Days® Earn Partners, they add School-Days® Edu-Time Points (ETPs) to their School-Days account. 1 ETP = R1.
Paul Esterhuizen, CEO at School-Days®, explains: “We began School-Days® as a fundraising programme solely focused on providing individuals with the opportunity to earn ETPs to help pay for their family’s school, college and university fees. Today, we have further adapted the platform with extended focus to help South African schools harness the collective power of their communities.”
School-Days® members can now choose to support up to two schools of their choice, Adopt-a-School Foundation and/or their own families.
Using either UCount Rewards Points or ETPs, members can:
- Support up to two registered South African schools of their choice by selecting them as beneficiaries.
- Support disadvantaged schools by donating their points to the Adopt-a-School Foundation, which is a non-profit organisation that supports the creation and enhancement of a conducive learning and teaching environment in disadvantaged schools.
- Pay towards their family’s school, college, or university fees. They can also boost their account with their own direct contributions. An education fund Top Up makes a great gift from family and friends on special occasions like birthdays and graduation ceremonies.
“Standard Bank’s partnership with the School-Days® programme forms part of our efforts to help relieve households by providing them with a mechanism to contribute towards school fees and to potentially make an impact by helping schools that may still be enduring hardships following the impact of the pandemic on education. There is no donation that is too small. If every member donates even a small amount, it can make a huge difference towards reducing youth unemployment, and to helping communities and the wider country to recover from recent events,” Foster concludes.
Please download the School-Days® App or visit https://ucount.standardbank.co.za/personal/ to see how to redeem Standard Bank UCount Rewards Points to pay your family member’s school fees, support up to two schools or to donate to the Adopt-a-School Foundation.