May 16, 2017
Costs cripple Maori students
The New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations says the low level of support payments is putting huge stress on students and particularly Maori students.
A survey by Auckland's Unitec Institute of Technology found a third of students and almost half of its Maori students seriously considered dropping out because of financial or work-study-life pressures.
At some stage over the previous 12 months more than two thirds of Maori students found they did not have enough income to meet their living costs.
Almost a third of students reported they regularly go without food or other necessities because they cannot afford them.
NZUSA president Jonathan Gee says tertiary study should be a way out of poverty, not a way into it.
He says student hardship has reached a breaking point, particularly for those who are the first in their families in tertiary study and for those studying in Auckland.
NZUSA is calling for an increase in next week's Budget to the $218 Student Allowance (including Accommodation Benefit) so that it at least covers the rent of the 40 percent of tertiary students living in Auckland, where average rents now top $250 a room.
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