The representative body for Australian universities has called for an urgent stocktake of student finances, saying current welfare settings were designed before Covid-19, war and supply chain chaos caused runaway inflation.
A Universities Australia (UA) analysis has found that students’ rents have risen by about 40 per cent since 2021, with groceries up 27 per cent, utilities up 39 per cent and fuel up 43 per cent. Yet the last comprehensive survey of student finances was conducted almost a decade ago.
“We wouldn’t run Australia’s cost of living policy using household data last collected in 2017,” chief executive Luke Sheehy told the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES) policy symposium in Brisbane. “We shouldn’t run student policy that way either.
“Let’s find out what students have to say about rental pressures, how much they are working, whether work is keeping them out of class, what they’re cutting back on, whether they’ve moved to part-time study, why they defer, and why some leave.”
UA also wants all students to be granted eligibility for concessions cards entitling them to discounts on transport, healthcare, power, water, car registration and other services.
