For Erbin Bandong, the costs don’t add up.
“Parking on campus varies, but the cheapest rate is $25 a day,” the second-year software engineering student said. “That’s $75 a week for the three days on campus. It’s too much.”
His solution is to drive from his Marsden Park home to Kellyville and catch the metro to Macquarie University, at a cost of $4 return.
“That’s pretty good – a concession fee is reasonable,” he says, while eating a free sausage from one of the university’s social clubs.
As the cost-of-living crisis threatens to escalate amid the US/Israeli war against Iran and petrol shocks, university students nationwide are struggling with costs associated with their degrees that can rise into the thousands of dollars.
The Morrison government radically changed university fee structures, sending humanities fees north of $50,000 while lowering costs for subjects such as teaching, nursing, science and engineering by up to 60 per cent.
Housing near campus can be expensive, and many students face long commutes. Public transport is no panacea: for instance, the metro extension to Bankstown has been delayed until later this year, and the line is frequently closed for testing. Since the fuel price surge, Premier Chris Minns has resisted calls to join Victoria in making public transport free.
Before the first HECS payment is extracted, students already feel the bite as costs steadily creep up for textbooks, lab coats and safety equipment, studio materials, field trips and printing.
UTS’s only on-site parking costs $9 per half hour. At Macquarie University, an annual parking ticket for “General Zone 1” costs students $844 and staff $1111. Access to the East 3 car park sets students back a maximum of $4189 annually.
At Macquarie, students can spend $250 to graduate, while the textbook for one first-year law subject at the University of NSW costs $185.
“The universities themselves are the only ones who can fix this,” National Union of Students president Felix Hughes said.
Western Sydney University has opened food pantries on two of its campuses for students suffering food insecurity. Last month, WSU began cooking classes for students.
“Food security is a big challenge for university students,” said pantry volunteer Sonu Sonu, 26, an engineering student from India. “Many are struggling quietly with access to nutritious and consistent meals. They’re trying to focus on their study but can’t, they don’t even have one meal in a day. It’s very hard.”
Sonu said his fellow international students were particularly challenged by rising costs.
“Students are going without meals,” Hughes said. “They’re having to choose between food, or rent, or travel to campus. Students take on more work to afford uni expenses so do fewer classes and get worse marks; they’re missing compulsory attendance.
“Universities don’t need to charge these massive parking costs or these really significant increases in accommodation on campus. They do it because students don’t have a choice.”
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