Govt must do more to relieve student financial stress
The final report by Universities Australia, Australian University Student Finances 2006, confirms that university students are facing significant financial stress in this country, say the Australian Democrats.
"This report clearly shows the difficulties associated with going to university under Prime Minister Howard's watch," Democrats' Higher Education spokesperson Senator Natasha Stott Despoja said.
"It paints a compelling picture of a student experience that is increasingly a juggling act between getting an education and scraping together enough money to afford the essentials of life.
"When one in eight students report that they regularly go without food and other necessities and almost half of full-time undergraduates claim to have budgets in deficit there is something seriously wrong," Senator Stott Despoja said.
In 2004, Senator Stott Despoja initiated the first and only Senate inquiry to focus solely on student income support issues. The inquiry heard that anomalies in the income support system are driving students further into poverty and forcing many to give up study altogether. The Government still has not responded to the Senate report.
"There were some welcome student income support measures in the May Budget – measures that the Democrats have long called for. However, these initiatives represent just $222 million over four years and are not sufficient to balance out sky-rocketing fees and living costs," Senator Stott Despoja said.
"Allowing students to struggle financially to this extent does not make for a positive learning experience – and that is in neither the individual nor the national interest.
"Today the Democrats will call for the Government to respond to the state of student finances, as highlighted by the 2004 Senate Inquiry and the Universities Australia report," Senator Stott Despoja said.
