To finish off their degree nurses, teachers, medical students, midwives and social workers must do supervised placements which can be kilometres from where they live.
Advocates say having to do hundreds of hours of unpaid on the job training is "psychologically demoralising" and is leaving female-dominated professions decades behind the earnings of minimum wage workers.
To finish off their degree nurses, teachers, medical students, midwives and social workers must do supervised placements which can be kilometres from where they live.
But students say with the cost of living and rising fuel prices they are only just able to keep their heads above water.
Chelsea said she was in her second to last year of studying towards a Bachelor of Social Work at the University of Auckland.
