Vela is a free WhatsApp guide for life after school. Send your marks and get every option you qualify for: degree, diploma, apprenticeship or paid training, plus the funding that could help you get there and exactly what to do next.
A degree, a diploma, a trade, paid work-and-study. Vela names the career first, then shows every honest way to reach it. No route is a lesser route.
Decisions this big are never made alone. If you're standing behind a learner, start here.
Is this real? What does it cost? The questions families ask first, answered in plain language.
For parents & families →One link gives your whole class private plans. No spreadsheets, no extra admin for you.
For teachers & schools →Fund full access for learners who need it most. The numbers behind the gap live here.
For sponsors & CSI →No forms. No PDF to download. No hour-long career test. Just a conversation.
Message Vela on WhatsApp. No download, no signup, no email address.
Know where you want to go? Vela maps every route there. Still deciding? A short chat about what you enjoy finds destinations that fit. Same plan either way.
Routes ranked strong, good or stretch. Funding matched to you. Deadlines in order. Yours to keep and return to.
It's easy to choose what to study and never ask where it goes. Too many South Africans finish a qualification the working world has no place for. So Vela begins with the work itself — the job, the pay, whether it's in demand — and then shows you every honest route that actually gets you there.
Earn from R5 500/m while training · qualified: R18 000 – R45 000/m
Via apprenticeship · Red Seal · no APS gate
Mid-level R18 000 – R38 000/m · CA route up to R120 000/m
Via BCom or diploma · university, TVET or distance
Qualified R20 000 – R42 000/m · high public demand
Via degree or diploma · SANC registration flagged upfront
Junior R8 000 – R15 000/m · kitchen-to-management ladder
Via culinary school · NQF 4 · hospitality funding matched
Season 1 coverage · every route after matric, from official sources
Applying is full of small, stressful questions, and they never arrive all at once. Your Vela Companion is an AI guide that lives in your chat, ready whenever you are. Ask it anything about fees, residence, application dates, documents or funding — it answers from real, sourced information, and tells you honestly when it isn't sure instead of guessing. It stays with you the whole way through applying, so you're never left wondering on your own.
Honest by design: when Vela isn't certain, it says so and points you to the official source — it never makes a number up. You'll meet your Companion free while you build your plan, and keep it for good on the full plan — message it anytime, for as long as you're applying.
The most important part, knowing where you stand, costs nothing. No subscriptions, no airtime traps.
Already applied to university and chasing bursaries? For R49 we coach you through a strong motivation letter and CV — with tips matched to each bursary you apply for, then a real person reviews your draft before you send it. We help you write it, in your own words — we never write it for you.
Every paid tier includes everything in the free tier. Professional registration requirements (HPCSA, SAICA, ECSA and others) are flagged upfront on every tier, including free.
Beta pricing. These are our prices for the public beta. They may change once the beta ends — but if you start during the beta, the price you join at stays yours. The free tier is always free.
Sponsored by your school or an NGO? Then your full plan and route comparison are free for you. Ask your teacher if your school is part of the programme.
Only from official sources — university and college pages, employer and SETA programmes, NSFAS and bursary providers. Some opportunities aren't open all year; where we know the usual window we'll still show them and offer to remind you when they open. Because dates, fees and entry requirements can change after we check them, always confirm the details with the institution or provider before you apply. If we can't find an official source, we leave it out.
No — and we'll never pretend otherwise. Matching a bursary means you're eligible to apply, not that you'll receive it. Funders get many applicants and make their own decisions, on factors we can't see. So apply to several, apply early, and treat every match as a door worth knocking on — not a promise.
The core guidance is free, always. The full plan is R49 once-off, less than a taxi to a university open day. No subscriptions, no hidden charges.
Vela is POPIA-compliant. Marks and personal details are used only to build the plan, never sold, and never shown to sponsors or schools in identifiable form.
Yes. Plans are written in plain language with real costs, funding options and salary ranges, made to be talked through at the kitchen table.
| Programme | UCT — BCom (General) |
| APS required | 36 |
| Maths requirement | 60% (level 5) |
| Tuition estimate | R62 000 – R68 000/yr (2026) |
| NSFAS eligible | Yes, if qualifying |
| Source | UCT 2026 Undergraduate Prospectus |
| Last verified | March 2026 |
| Before you apply | Confirm dates & fees with UCT — they can change |
One class link or poster activates Vela for all your matrics. Each learner chats privately on their own phone. You don't collect marks, manage logins or mark anything. If your school has a sponsor, the full experience is free for every learner.
Share one link or put up one poster. That's the whole activation. Learners do the rest on WhatsApp.
Schools get anonymised progress summaries: how many learners have plans, common destinations, funding matched. Never individual marks or private conversations.
Vela runs on WhatsApp, which works on most entry-level phones, and plans can be shared. One phone in a household is enough.
South Africa's school-to-opportunity pipeline leaks at the exact moment guidance matters most. Sponsored access puts a full plan in the hands of learners who could never pay for one.
Aligned to SETA artisan-pipeline and scarce-skills priorities — we surface the employers and programmes your levies fund, across SETAs including merSETA, MQA, CHIETA, TETA and W&RSETA.
Sponsorship qualifies for CSI and B-BBEE skills development spend, with anonymised impact reporting (reach, plans built, applications submitted) and no learner's personal information ever exposed.
Talk to us about sponsoringSend one message and start straight away. Vela is in early public beta: free to try, the data verified before it's shown, improving every week. If something's missing, we'd rather tell you than guess. Start during the beta and the price you join at stays yours, even after prices change.
Send "hi" to Vela on WhatsAppPrefer email? Get in touch by email — handy for parents, teachers and sponsors.