With the cost of living on-the-rise, a new survey has found that two-thirds of university students are struggling to buy food and other necessities – with their average rent costing more than half the student allowance.
Upon first glance of her flatmate, Eden Vaatstra knew something was wrong.
“I go to the kitchen and my flatmate looks completely grey… we had to go to A&E because he has superimposed pneumonia.”
The 21-year-old Auckland University student told Sunday that the nights are often cold in her six-bedroom villa – while she and her student flatmates have a heat pump, they can’t afford to turn it on, instead spending their winter evenings huddled around their fireplace – burning scavenged wood.
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Some nights are warm enough – others are “very cold and very humid.”
“I think that would definitely make anyone sick.”
The straight-A student says the freezing nights and two-minute noodles are simply the facts of student life for her. She’s spent the past three years grinding away at a double bachelor’s degree – majoring in architecture and music.
“I remember one semester I pulled like three all-nighters, one after the other.”
During this grind, she got a weekly benefit of $337 from the student allowance. Out of that, Vaatstra pays $252 in rent a week, about $15 for power, $20 for transport, and $25 for her course materials, which leaves her $25 for everything else, including food.
According to Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick, it’s getting even harder for many, with the skyrocketing cost of living, a housing shortage, and mounting student debt.
The Auckland Central representative is the party’s spokesperson on tertiary issues. To her, the line that student poverty is a rite of passage doesn’t hold.
“Two-thirds of students can’t afford the basics,” she said. “Why on earth would we say that things have to be just as bad for those who come after us? Surely, that’s the opposite of social progress and what we’re all working towards.”
Last month, the Green Party jointly released the results of a survey on the wellbeing of tertiary students, alongside tertiary student associations across Aotearoa.
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The survey found two-thirds of students didn’t have enough money to pay for essentials like food, clothing and bills. Two-thirds also reported being unable to pay for transport or vehicle costs
On average, students spent 56% of their income on rent. The report recommended a universal student benefit of around $380 a week – which would cost taxpayers $2.5 billion a year.
“About 50 years ago, in this country, education was effectively free. Nobody was getting out a student loan,” Swarbrick said.
“If we want highly-educated people who are able to become our social workers, and our health workforce, and our researchers, and to contribute to the success of this country, then we need to invest in them.”
Student debt is also on the rise – in 2008, the average loan held by Inland Revenue was $16,213, in 2021 that figure was $23,307. Last year there was a total of $16.2 billion worth of unpaid loans, up from $10.7 billion in 2011.
Education Minister Chris Hipkins once protested on Parliament’s grounds against education reforms in 1997. Back then, he said urgent attention was required to “ bring down tuition fees and [boost] financial support for all students.”
But today he’s of a different mind.
“I’m in a very different position to the one that I was in back then,” he said.
“Everything is easy until you actually have to do it – and the reality is, governments can’t just wave a magic wand and do all of these things overnight. A majority in Parliament doesn’t give you an unlimited supply of money.”
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