Making Ends Meet Hard Course For University Students

Newcastle Herald

Thursday January 26, 2006

SMH

SURVIVING financially as a tertiary student can be a challenge as tough as getting good marks. By far the biggest costs are course fees. They vary depending on what degree you are doing, and where.

In round figures an arts student at university can expect to pay $4900 a year, business, maths and science students $7000, and law, medicine and veterinary students $8200.

Most Australian students are eligible to defer full or part-payment of fees through the Federal Government's HECS-HELP (higher education contribution scheme and loan program). If you pay at least $500 of the initial cost of each course, you receive a 20 per cent discount on your total debt.

When it comes to living expenses, the major cost is accommodation.

Bill Wright, a student financial adviser at Monash University, says students' experience is that, with many conditions reducing the amount of rent assistance they can receive, living at home with the parents is often the best option.

"If you are living away from home, paying rent means you have to work on top of what you receive from the Government if, in fact, you receive anything at all. The chances are you will be forced to work a considerable number of hours to survive," he says.

"If you add up the cost of rent and food alone, that usually wipes out the payments you receive from the Government."

Stephanie Barr, a 21-year-old Melbourne University student studying a commerce/communications degree, has both lived with her parents and shared a house, and says the latter is definitely more expensive. "[Share accommodation] costs about $150 more a week, which means it is about twice as expensive to live," she says.

The main benefits students are entitled to is either a Youth Allowance (for those aged 16 to 24) or Austudy (25 and over). Both Centrelink benefits pay a maximum of $438.50 a fortnight.

Youth Allowance payments can be reduced if a student lives with parents (whose income is means tested), while both payments can be reduced if a student has a partner, or works. You can earn up to $236 a fortnight before the payments are reduced.

A student earning between $236 and $316 will have payments cut by 50 cents in the dollar, rising to 70 cents in the dollar on earnings exceeding $316.

Although paying rent is often the biggest expense, it's not where students most often run into financial trouble.

Bruce Hunter, the director of support services at Macquarie University, says "consumer debt" on mobile phone, internet and credit card bills causes far more problems.

Monash's Wright says: "There is a fair bit of naivety among students. They don't realise there are creditors out there who are happy to get them into debt." He says a good way to control spending on a mobile phone is to get a prepaid phone deal, which operates on a credit system. Once the credit is spent, you cannot make more calls until you buy more. "We see some horrific mobile phone bills."

Wright says most universities have a low (or even zero) interest student loan facility, which, depending on the bills, can be used to repay debt.

There are other options for borrowing money. Sydney University's Student Representative Council offers interest-free loans of up to $750. However, students should keep in mind that most universities will not allow you to graduate until loans are repaid.

If you are assessed as being in financial hardship, you may also be eligible for a means-tested university scholarship.

Hunter emphasises the importance of budgeting, saying it is "absolutely essential".

One obvious way to shave costs is to cut back on using a car, or to access a university car-pooling plan. SMH

© 2006 Newcastle Herald

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