Should being poor be a student rite of passage?

Image source: The Wāhines of Waimaz, Flat Famous Issue one

Cold, damp flats, and two-minute noodles have long been considered a way of life and a rite of passage during university.

With New Zealand suffering from a cost-of-living crisis, such a way of life is being brought into the spotlight.

In 2022, the Green Party in partnership with student unions across New Zealand, including the UCSA, launched an investigation into the hardships faced by students. Its findings showed that students were facing more hardship than ever before.

According to the People’s Inquiry into Student Wellbeing 2022, there were many issues facing students during their studies.

The report noted that 60% of students who responded to the survey were not or could not be supported financially by their parents. This number included those whose parents earned too much to be eligible for student allowance.

The average student in the report, noted having to spend over half of their weekly income on housing alone. One in six students reported having to live in flats that did not meet their needs. With the most common reasons behind that being that the flats are cold and damp.

When asking students on the UCSA Noticeboard Facebook group about their experiences, mold in flats was one of the most common responses, with one respondent even saying their “entire living room was covered in mold” and had “mushrooms growing.”

For Tom Dixon, a 23-year-old Philosophy student, the findings of the report were “not surprising.”

Dixon is used to being tight on money, with him recalling that when he used to flat on his own his “diet was fucked” and consisted of stir fry’s and frozen pizzas for dinner and Up and Go’s for breakfast. After paying rent, Dixon remembers that he would only have around $100 left to buy food, which it would barely cover it.

Since his father has moved to Christchurch things have improved for Dixon, as he doesn’t have to shoulder the burden of the cost of living on his own. Dixon says “If I wasn’t living with him, I’d be broke as fuck. Like completely broke.”

Despite living with his father, finances are still tight. Dixon only gets $170 from student allowance, and as a result has to take out the student living cost loan as well. Whilst this gives Dixon an extra $130 a week it further adds to his student debt.

Dixon’s father is on the pension himself, and is also struggling to pay rent and other bills such as power and internet. Both of them have little left after all the essentials are paid for and will be left with even less when they have to move houses soon.

Their current house costs $400 a week in rent without utilities. What they get for that $400 is a house that is cold, damp and very mouldy.

Dixon says that the house where he lives “would be a nice house if it weren’t for the fact that I have black mold growing on my walls.”

The house is also cold and Dixon says they can’t use the heater too much as it costs money. In the winter, Dixon frequently wakes up in the morning to a house which is cold and damp. Dixon says, “it’s a good job I don’t have any respiratory health issues or I’d be fucked.”

The cold and mold filled house, as well as the constant stress regarding financings and the impending move has had an effect on Dixon’s mental health. He describes the whole situation as “miserable.”

When asked about how he would like to see things improve for students in New Zealand, Dixon simply said “more money, and less strings attached on said money.”

When referring to less strings Dixon was talking about how student allowance is means tested, and how with the rising cost of living is meaning that more students are missing out because their parents earn too much in the eyes of Studylink.

When talking about housing, Dixon hopes to see stricter guidelines for rental properties, as well as caps on the cost of rents changed by investment property owners.

With 2023 being an election year, and cost of living being one of the primary issues of importance to New Zealanders, time will tell if things will be improved for students and the country as a whole.