Student leaders have launched an unprecedented call in a bid to bail out thousands of middle-class students. A national fundraising drive kicks off this week as many of them face being barred from returning to universities around the country over unpaid fees totalling hundreds of millions of rands.The Sunday Times can exclusively reveal details of the emergency plea to South Africans to help raise money to wipe out the debt of students who do not qualify for state funding and whose families earn between R122, 000 and R300, 000.The #FeesMustFall campaign thus far has been focusing largely on poorer students.Hloni Theko, MD of Pretune Technologies, confirmed yesterday that his company, together with Cell C, has developed an SMS donation line expected to be launched by Thursday.This would enable millions of cellphone users to donate to a university of their choice by sending an SMS with a special code.Depending on their cellphone service provider, amounts ranging from R5.56 to R12 per R20 SMS would be paid over to the respective universities.block_quotes_start we want to be proactive; we are not going to sit back and let our students be excluded block_quotes_endTheko said the initiative was meant to assist the so-called "missing middle" students who owed fees - those too well-off to qualify for state grants, but too poor to pay for their studies from their own pocket.Several universities were adamant this week that they would not be writing off student debt, saying they did not have the reserves to meet the shortfall.Fasiha Hassan, secretary-general of the Wits student representative council, said they were calling on all South Africans, including the government, the corporate sector and private individuals, to assist with as little as R100.story_article_left1A campus campaign by the Wits SRC last year generated around R4.4-million."As students, we don't have the capacity on our own to help these thousands of people [who owe fees]. But we want to be proactive; we are not going to sit back and let our students be excluded."Even if we can register five students, those are five lives we've changed. We can't allow people not to register."Hassan said the biggest issue was the clearance of students' outstanding debt. "We want free education but we recognise and we know it's not going to happen this year."Benz Mabengwane, president of the North West University's SRC, said Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande told student leaders during a meeting this week that he did not have the power to ask universities to allow students who had outstanding debt to register.The government has been accused of allocating R2.6-billion to universities to eliminate the debt of 71753 students who qualified for National Student Financial Aid Scheme funding, but of not making any provision to assist heavily indebted middle-class students.Roughly 8000 students at Wits owe about R123-million and of that number at least 3600 owe up to R1000 each.However, only those who owe less than R500 will be allowed to register, as well as those who can prove they are fully funded for this year and who sign an acknowledgement-of-debt form.At the University of Cape Town, the bulk of the 3689 students who together owe R86.6-million are either international students or those whose annual family income is above R550000.story_article_right2The issue of helping battling students who don't qualify for student aid scheme funding is expected to be discussed at a meeting between Nzimande and the vice-chancellors of the 26 universities this week.Wits deputy vice-chancellor Professor Tawana Kupe said the institution was looking at ways to assist those who owed more than R500 or who had outstanding balances and were not fully funded for this year."We are trying to find sustainable solutions," he said.Max Price, vice-chancellor of UCT, described the proposed national fundraising campaign as a "fantastic initiative".Indebted students at UCT would be allowed to register provided they made arrangements to settle their outstanding debt, he said.UCT's SRC president, Rorisang Moseli, threw his weight behind the national fundraising campaign.Meanwhile, Mabengwane said the North West SRC had vowed that students who had been rejected by the student aid scheme on the basis of limited funds and those with outstanding balances would be the first to register tomorrow.The body would meet students today to take instructions from them after only 391 first-year students at the Mafikeng campus were granted funding.Outstanding university debt for last year and in some cases accumulated debt from previous years• University of the Witwatersrand: total debt outstanding for 2013, 2014 and last year is R193 million owed by 13 579 students;• University of Cape Town: R86.6-million owed by 3 689 students, who were not funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme• Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University: R46.7-million owed by 1096 students;story_article_right3• North West University: outstanding debt of R200.1-million owed by 19 312 students;• University of KwaZulu-Natal: R168.7-million;• Stellenbosch University: R187.2-million owed by 10 019 students;• University of Limpopo: total accumulated debt is R358.6-million owed by 65 292 students;• Vaal University of Technology: R261.7-million owed by 22 987 students;• Rhodes University: R43.7-million owed by 2 600 students;• Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University: R52.1-million owed by 5 809 students;• Cape Peninsula University of Technology: total outstanding debt of R332.4-million;• Mangosuthu University of Technology: R134-million which dates back to before 2013;• Durban University of Technology: an accumulative debt of R523-million owed 48 082 students;• The University of Venda: R111.2-million owed by 8 091 students; and• Sol Plaatje University: R1.5-million owed by 50 students.sub_head_start Struggle of the missing middle Money went to granDevon Thomas pleaded in vain at the University of the Witwatersrand this week to register for 2016 even though he has outstanding debt of R16, 000.Thomas, 20, of Eldorado Park, did two years of an architecture degree but hopes to switch to a BA. His father had been paying for his studies, supplemented by a R20000 bursary from the City of Johannesburg last year. But this year he has a "financial crisis". "My gran passed away so all the money . . . went to her funeral and her medication."He is not eligible for National Student Financial Aid Scheme funding. "I'm in that gap. I'm not too poor, but not rich enough to pay for it by myself."He doubts free education will be possible in his time but should it happen, it should be for everyone. " How do you decide who deserves [ it]?" Had to beg for helpJoshua Labuschagne, 19, is excited about starting his first year at the University of the Witwatersrand.Having attended a "predominantly rich kids' school" - Marian College - he is looking forward to "trying something new".He went to high school on an academic scholarship and matriculated with an average of 84%. He had to beg his "estranged" grandfather for help to pay for his studies.That contribution will only cover his registration fees and a portion of his studies. He hopes to get a loan from his parents to fund the balance towards his BA degree.On free higher education, Labuschagne said: "There are those who don't qualify for loans but are too poor to afford it. Education is a right." Too complicatedstory_article_right4Kgabo Moja, 22, who qualified for help from the student financial scheme, ran into myriad administrative problems when she applied to the fund for a loan to cover her tuition for 2015 at the University of the Witwatersrand.She was so disheartened by last year's process, in fact, that the BCom student from Limpopo opted not to apply for NSFAS funding for this, her second, year of study. She has yet to receive responses to applications for bursaries, but she is optimistic. "I'm just glad I'm back. I just want to finish."Her parents went to university and Moja doesn't want to disappoint them.She believes the government should give students an indication about its plans for free education. "I don't think we can achieve it now, but in future, I think it might be possible." No 'time wasters'Mbali Ndlovu, 22, was in the middle of her third-year exams when the #FeesMustFall protests took place last year.While fully supporting the cause, Ndlovu was worried about the impact the protests would have on her studies. "The timing was bad," she said.On Wednesday, she was on campus with her mother, Priscilla, and her younger sister, Zinhle, who is about to embark on her first year.The sisters have no financing woes. Ndlovu has a scholarship from the Transport Education Training Authority and Zinhle's fees will be paid for by their parents.Ndlovu thinks free education is a good idea, but "it would open doors to anybody - even people who are not serious would come just to waste money. That's one of the things I see as a problem," she said. "It is not everyone who has that thing, you know, ambition". Documents loststory_article_right5Akhile Mcimeli travelled three hours on three taxis to get to the University of the Witwatersrand to register for his third year.Mcimeli, 22, a chemical engineering student from North West, had National Student Financial Aid Scheme funding for the first two years, but had to reapply this year."I did submit my documents but ... they lost some so I must wait until, I think February, to hear whether I qualify." Having passed all his subjects last year, he is also applying for other bursaries. The academic year starts in February, but he has been told some might only be finalised in March.He cannot get back into university residence. He doesn't have the R950 required or proof that funding will come.On free education, Mcimeli says: "It should not just be everyone. It should be those who are performing and maybe from poor backgrounds." - Thembalethu Zulu- additional reporting by Thembalethu Zulu..