OPINION: This is How We Break Free from Student Poverty
Words by Jess Ye (she/her), VUWSA President
The worst part of student hardship is that we've become numb to it. It feels like a jaded laugh at having instant noodles for dinner and missing lectures so you can go earn $22.70 an hour to pay for your rent increase. Student hardship is normal because it is all we have ever known. Besides, one day you’ll have a glorious career and pay off your student loan, right?
The most nefarious thing about student hardship is the internal conditioning that things are meant to be this way. We are deeply wired to internalise student hardship and debt as our individual burden to bear, to accept a default of rampant inequality and student debt.
I constantly find myself battling to replace these narratives with the belief that I fundamentally deserve better because all people should be able to live with dignity. Dignity is not something to be earned.
The good news is that as soon as you start pushing back against these bullshit internal narratives about student poverty being a rite of passage, you’ve already unlocked the first step to actual change.
Politics is owned by those who show up—those who can show up for themselves, their mates, and the future of Aotearoa. If we replace our numbness with anger and hope for a world without student hardship, then we can lift collective student consciousness and mobilise to give politicians the mandate to change the blueprint.
Students are a strong demographic. We make up around 400,000 people across the motu. We've swayed elections. We’ve terrified governments into taking action that was previously not on the table, like the $128 million funding announcement for universities to prevent staff cuts and a higher education review. In previous years, we’ve prevented student loans from being administered by private banks, and we’ve won fee maxima (an annual percentage cap on how much tuition fees can increase) and interest-free student loans.
We can also win a Study Wage for All, which you may know as a universal student allowance. Now is not the time to get defeated. Now is the time to organise steadfastly, talk to one another about student hardship and the kind of world we want, and amp up the pressure. We have the levers in place. The announcement of a higher education review from the government was an acknowledgement that the current bums-on-seat, user-pays funding model doesn’t work. Lest we forget that free tuition and relatively universal student allowances existed just over 30 years ago in Aotearoa.
Depending on how we organise and how this election goes, the higher education review can either be a vehicle for tertiary education reform or it can be a tool to inflict more student debt, and drive up business-like behaviour and more staff cuts (which was the outcome of the recent HE Review in the United Kingdom). So, what kind of future do you want?
Attend VUWSA’s next Study Wage for All workshop on Thursday, 10 August at 5:30 p.m. to learn how to advocate for tertiary education reform and get involved.