“Education is the greatest enabler in society”

Every year of my study so far (fulltime) I've had to use my study-related costs and personal savings from working over summer to cover my weekly expenses.

It's super tiring as I never make progress financially and I don't have money for bigger costs (EG: fixing my shitbox car), and I haven't been able to afford much-needed therapy ($80/wk on the low end). Before the student allowance went up recently, I was often a bit short at the end of the week and constantly had to use my small savings to cover the shortfall, I had to sell my mountain bike last year to cover expenses which kinda sucked as I won't be able to afford another until I finish studying. (I bought it while working in my gap year).

I have put off buying clothes/shoes for months now lol. Power has gotten insanely more expensive this year and is now around $100/wk for our flat of four under what I'd say is pretty standard use.

I seem to have dodged COVID so far but lockdowns really affect my study as I rely on attending lectures to maintain routine. This has resulted in me falling behind several times now and negatively affects my mental health as I then get stuck in a stress-burnout cycle. Also having to isolate from my partner who caught it resulted in a 2-3 week low in which I struggled to get anything done at all.

I graduated at the end of 2021. I literally only survived by borrowing money from my parents and the Government. Rents have gone up exponentially in the 3 years since I started my degree but my student loan weekly borrowing has remained capped. I've had to move into progressively poorer quality housing as flats have been sold from under us and new owners either move in or hike the rent.

The flat we’re in now is cold and damp. I take immunosuppressive medication for my autoimmune disease, so I'm more at risk of infections. I have managed to avoid catching COVID so far by staying home more than I otherwise would - I'm not so afraid of the initial COVID infection but I'm terrified of "Long COVID".

The lifetime of the student allowance being cut from 200 weeks to 120 weeks at age 40 is age discrimination. I have gone back to University to train as a nurse at age 39 and as soon as I turned 40 I no longer qualified for an allowance so racked up 15k of student loan JUST BECAUSE OF MY AGE! It's a massive disincentive to retrain and I would not have commenced my Bachelor of Nursing if I had realised the age was reassessed each year - I thought by starting my degree before I turned 40, I would be eligible for the full 3 years. It's not right to punish older students who are changing careers - it makes no sense. I rely on my retired parents to help me with the expectation I'll help them out after I graduate

I’m a PhD student and have transferred my degree to part time to pick-up some work as a cleaner so I can afford to keep going. I'm lucky I'm in the final stage of writing the thesis, but the work I do is 3 hours of physical labour 5 days a week. I'm on empty when I do get to sit and write but I'm lucky to have a job that allows me to keep studying, it's just a challenging balance.

I’ve had challenges being a front-facing teacher with students who won't comply with rules or lack the resources to have masks, etc. I've reached a higher level of teaching in my roles which allowed me to put pressure on my department to provide the resources needed but I had to provide them while waiting for them e.g. masks, sanitiser, signs, distancing guidelines, etc. I'm lucky I had the work experience and authority to get what I needed done.

It's still a privilege to do this, I understand that, but it’s harder now compared to 10 years ago. I really feel for new-entrance students. Tuition fees have basically doubled, my weekly cost of living used to be $150 to live walking distance to campus, now it's $300. Unless you can find a family sized group of people to share the costs, it's not viable and even then, you still have to work.

As a teacher at my University, I see first-hand the difference working has on my students’ grades. They literally don't have to the time to compete with A+ students who only study with full support. For them, that translates to scholarships lost because they go to whoever's grades are higher. The students breaking themselves with the pressure of juggling work and study will be in the lower grade bracket because of less time available to do their assessments and prepare for exams.

I’m a fulltime student and work about 20 hours a week. To make ends meet I borrow money, stay with family until I can afford to leave, sacrifice certain things like hygiene products and do without food every few weeks and don’t go to the doctor or dentist.

It’s not like I live in one of the most expensive cities or somewhere flash either - I sleep in an uninsulated garage with a large garage door that lets rain in. It’s only half carpeted. In the winter the walls condensate and both sides of the windows frost over.

I went looking for new places to stay recently but I could not afford a single one of the places I viewed despite them being pretty run down. When COVID hit, my kura offered support. I tried to access the support and I did everything that was required of me, but they didn't follow through.