The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is characterized as a microcosm of South Africa, reflecting a myriad of societal dynamics, including inequality that perpetuates as a legacy from the apartheid period. Understanding how societal differences influences and shapes student preparation, access, experience and performance in higher education is significant to inform student support and intervention. Through the lens of economic and cultural capital, this study set out to explore why some students thrive whilst others do not. The paper contributes to the emerging qualitative studies in South African Higher Education Institutions on student performance and support. Using a case study design, a cohort of twenty-seven first-year students enrolled in an undergraduate health sciences program were tracked until completion. The findings reveal that working-class students performed academically lower than middle-class students. There were also significant differences in how income and the leverage it allowed in the way of family stability, access to good schools, attitudes to education and support from communities, shaped their preparation for higher education, and by extension their academic performance.

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