I benefited from a Rhodes bursary as an undergraduate and I know the positive impact it can have on a young person’s life. Back in 1980, it was University policy that students must live in residence for their first year. I had a student loan and thought I could manage the costs, but soon discovered that I could not. The head of St Paul’s Theological College and his wife (themselves old Rhodians and friends of my parents), generously offered that I board with their family. I recall how nervous I was approaching the Deputy Vice Chancellor to request that I be given special permission to leave residence early in my first year. Not only did he agree, but I walked out of his office as the surprised and very grateful recipient of a Rhodes bursary! I wondered later if he regretted his decision because I soon took to student politics and became an active SRC office bearer in those turbulent early 1980s