Most university students remember the struggle of scraping together enough cash for a late night pie, or digging for the coins needed to nab a bottle of Tassies before a night out.

One student at Walter Sisulu University in the Eastern Cape has been living it up, though, after accidentally receiving a R14 million payment on her student debit card.

The payment actually went through about five months ago, according to university spokesperson Yonela Tukwayo, and during that time the student has been living large.

Times LIVE reports:

“People started complaining after she started living a very lavish lifestyle‚” Tukwayo said.

Tukwayo said there were specific merchants where students were able to use the money to buy books and food‚ so the university would investigate how the student was able to buy some of the goods she bought.

“Some students picked this up from the very lavish lifestyle she started living. We will also be looking into how this money was spent to buy some of the expensive goods‚” Tukwayo said.

“There have been previous cases where merchants had colluded with students‚ but this will be part of the investigation.”

“We don’t know how this happened … but she will be held liable to pay back the money she had spent‚” she said.

It is reported that she has spent in excess of R400 000, and will now be liable for that sum.

Wait for this – she was caught when she posted this image online, showing her multi-million rand bank balance:

Other images online reportedly show how she spent the money throwing a big party, buying a cellphone and other luxury goods.

The stupidity of youth.

According to the university the student failed to report the matter, although EWN quotes her as saying that she did.

Um, how does the university not notice that it’s short of R14 million?

…Tukwayo says that the deposit was made in error by a company which administers Nsfas [National Student Financial Aid Scheme] funds to student debit cards.

“We are also looking at the Nsfas rules of which the child did sign an agreement to adhere to the rules in terms of how that money should be used. So the student will be liable to repay every cent of the money spent even if it takes 20 years to do so.”

Eish – when good times go bad.

[sources:timeslive&ewn]