Tauranga tertiary students have not escaped the cost of living crunch and are taking on more work and eating less nutritious food to make ends meet.

'It's got to a point where you really are questioning if you can make it to the end of the week,” says University of Waikato student president Lushomo, who The Sun approached to find out the situation at Tauranga and Waikato campuses.

'It's so hard to be a student right now,” says Lushomo.

'The cost of living, inflation, food, rent, petrol, and services are just up – and we're noticing in our student advocacy support services that financial hardship has gone up because of all those things.”

Earlier this year the Green Party launched a People's Inquiry into Student Wellbeing, collaborating with student unions throughout New Zealand.

Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick says political decisions have normalised and entrenched student poverty over the past decades.

The results of the self-selecting survey in July show approximately two-thirds of students regularly do not have enough to buy food, pay bills, access healthcare and other living costs.

Food scrimp

Lushomo says one of the main cost-cuts students are making is on food. 'You can't afford to get all the groceries.”

'If a bag of chips is cheaper than getting fruit, that's what I'm going to get so I can eat. Noodles end up being your main meal…you want to get your protein in but unfortunately it's so expensive.”

A Tauranga tertiary student, who wanted remain anonymous, says financial advisors are available on-campus to students should things get too hard. '…and they also provide weekly food drops, free lunch days, and many other events”.

'But it shouldn't be the university's job to provide for its students,” says the student, who lives at home to save on housing costs.

Double shift

Lushomo says many students are taking up full-time work alongside full-time study to make living payments.

Another Tauranga student that rents a home says they've had to work multiple jobs during the break to gain savings for the next study year to assist with costs, with no break in three years. 'I'm very burnt-out and this stress has affected my learning.”

Lushomo asks: 'Where are you supposed to find the time to go to your full-time job, go to full-time study, look after your wellbeing, be part of your family, and other responsibilities, have a social life and be there with your mates?”

Continued Support

Labour's List MP for Tauranga, Jan Tinetti, says student support is a key priority of the Government she belongs to and says they are working to improve the life of renters in this area.

'We have increased student allowances and student loan living costs this year by $25 a week, which builds on the $50 a week increase to allowance and loan living costs in 2018,” says Jan.

'We've implemented healthy homes standards, limited how often rent can be increased, prohibited landlords from seeking rental bids, banned letting fees and made sure people feel secure in their homes by abolishing ‘no cause' terminations. We are focused on improving rental affordability and the supply of homes, as well as lifting people's incomes by raising the minimum wage every year.”

The students interviewed by The Sun say Studylink needs to come under review to give students greater financial support.

'Studylink is running off outdated stereotypes, it needs a full update and refresh. Also contacting for help is difficult and many students can feel shamed needing help while already getting subpar aid,” says the student renter.

'The thresholds are so incredibly high and not everyone just falls into the criteria you have to meet,” says Lushomo.

Lushomo says the combined effects of high costs of living and Covid-19 have hit students with a double-whammy.

'I know not everything is entirely the Government's fault…but we'd like to see certain things being done at the pump and at the supermarket so we can actually afford to live.”