Critic finally got around to reading the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations’ (NZUSA) report on student income and expenditure, imaginatively titled “Income & Expenditure Survey 2010 – Summary of key findings”.
The report is based on a Colmar Brunton survey of approximately 2850 students from campuses around the country and has shocked many with its novel and frankly unbelievable finding that students are, for the most part, really poor.
The survey found that students had higher average student debt, higher living expenses, and significantly reduced income when compared to students in 2007. Indeed 58 percent of students reported that they were stressed about their financial situation and 70 percent were of the belief that fees were too high.
The tendency of students accumulating more and more debt to fund their studies was also captured by the report. Average student debt of those surveyed was now $15,558, with the proportion of students having ‘low debt’ (classed as less than $2000) falling from 26 percent to 19 percent.
Most students saw the evil of student debt as limiting their ability to purchase a home after finishing study and affecting the timing of when they will travel overseas. Additionally 37 percent stated that the loan would affect their decision to have children.
One positive to come out of the report was that students were still managing to find $30 a week to spend on entertainment. A scientific analysis of this data by Critic indicated that this equates to just fewer than 28 cans of Southern Gold. Disturbingly, however, the average student wastes a whopping $50 per week buying food, throwing away the chance to purchase another 46 cans and gain all their vital nutrients in liquid form.
NZUSA meanwhile will no doubt be utilising the statistics thrown up by this report to concoct some high quality press releases bemoaning the fate of students. Critic, however, speculates that they may find it a little hard to actually relate to the plight of the impoverished student, especially given that the rent on their Lampton Quay office is probably a tad more than the $142 a week the average student shells out for a roof over their head.
NZUSA commissions report. Discovers students are poor. Everyone shocked.
