Show me the money Centrelink, for I am Australia’s preeminent future (David)
Apologies for another politically charged blog entry if it isn’t your thing but I feel this is relevant.
Recently, the Age ran an article discussing the issue of student poverty with Glyn Davis saying that 440 Unimelb students are in effect homeless (the term used was ‘hot-bedding’, that is living with relatives or friends because they cannot afford their own residence). Student poverty has always been a hot topic and the debate is more often than not about Youth Allowance and whether the government is doing enough for university students.
I think most people would agree that there are struggling students out there who desperately need help due to many different circumstances. A few examples include regional/rural students moving to the city to study, parents with low incomes and disability. I would like to believe that the current system have these people in mind, and it does with youth allowance (which is dependent on your parents’ income and assets) and other schemes such as rent assistance and scholarships. Of course there will always be people who complain that its insufficient (it will always be insufficient) and there will be people who slip through the system as its simply impossible for Centrelink to cover every circumstance as some are just extraordinary. I personally don’t have problem with taxes being diverted to TRULY disadvantaged students to support them during their time at university (similarly for the unemployed, single parents, basically the underprivileged in society). I think Australia has a very generous social security system, live in Asia and you will know what I mean.
After reading all the sob stories in the comments section of aforementioned Age article, I realised that I had a problem. I had a problem with selfish whingy uni kids who wallow in extreme self-pity. I have a problem with taxes being handed to uni students who don’t deserve it. Let me illustrate my point with a comment I came across.
‘…my mother and father earn a combined $200 000 a year, which puts me way out of contention for the income assessed youth allowance. As my parents give me absolutely nothing, I’m left to fend for myself.’
Your what? Your parents earn a combined income of $200,000 (that means each parent earns twice the average wage) and you are complaining about the government not throwing money your way? Your parents give you nothing, so my parents are now partly responsible for your education, health and living expenses? Can they claim five minutes of custody a week so they can punch your head in? Have you ever thought that your parents left you to fend for yourself so you learn the value of money and hard work? Sorry for the aggressive tone readers, but this is exactly the attitude I am talking about. Yes, it’s an extreme case but nonetheless illustrates outrage on this issue.
It seems like university students these days expect living standards of the kids in the O.C or other Hollywood shows they watch. If they aren’t going out every weekend they are poor; if they can’t buy that new pair of jeans they are poor; if they can’t afford to eat out at restaurants (and take photos of the food and post them up on facebook) they are poor; if they can’t afford other youth orientated status symbols and ‘keep up’ with their peers they are poor. Here is another example:
‘I live in the Western Suburbs and travel to Monash, Clayton three times a week. The trip from home and back again takes 3 hours by public transport. By car it would take me an hour but rising petrol prices make it impossible now. I would love to move out to be closer to uni but there is no way possible that I would be able to afford it. I qualify as independent meaning I’d get around $348 a fortnight and maybe $100 rent assistance if I’m lucky. After $300 rent, I would only have $148 for bills and food. This also doesn’t include buying textbooks every semester. The system needs to change. It is unacceptable that people can sit on their backsides and collect unemployment benefits but there is hardly any support for young people who want to make something of themselves.’
Gee, what a hard life. I also travel 3 hours a day to and from uni. Maybe I should move out to Carlton and have tax payers pay for my rent, bills and food as well. I mean, instead of taxes going to a 40 year old unemployed man who has a spouse and 3 dependants to provide for, it should go to me for the sake of convenience. Imagine waking up 10min before class! Not to mention all the great places to have breakfast on Lygon Street. Seriously, if you were really struggling, you would sell the car, save thousands on petrol, registration, insurance, maintenance in the next few years and make do with public transport.
I agree with our taxes being distributed to help those who cannot help themselves, those who are truly in need, those who rely on the Salvation Army for their next meal, those who rely on other charities for their livelihood. I don’t agree with our taxes being given away to kids who move out – just cos Fitzroy is a cool suburb and I will get to live a hipster life – in other words for lifestyle or convenience reasons. A rural student moving to Melbourne to study veterinary science should be entitled to some assistance because where you live should not determine you future career, but I don’t have any empathy for a middle class kid who decides to move closer to the city so that he can ‘live the life’.
I mean why is there all this talk about uni students? How come they suddenly become poor after their year 12 exams? Granted, those who need to move out will be worse off because they have to cover rent, utilities and other living expenses that otherwise they would not have had to if they stayed at home. But there are so many students out there who are still living at home (or moved out as their own lifestyle choice) and are carping on how they are poor and how they need to work 30 or so hours to support themselves and how it’s affecting their studies. Many of these kids claim that their parents have left them to fend for themselves. I really don’t see why other tax payers have to foot the bill just because the kids’ parents (who are more than capable to provide for their children, like the case I mentioned above) decide they want to save their super for a trip to the Netherlands so they can reignite their sex life in the red light district.
Harsh as I may sound but if you can afford the ‘extras’ in life such as overseas holidays, eating out, expensive clothes and are still able to cover the necessities, you don’t deserve youth allowance. My parents are average income earners and I don’t qualify for youth allowance. I am fortunate enough to be able to live at home and have all the basics covered for me. I pay for everything that doesn’t overlap with my family such as my textbooks, metcards, social life, mobile phone etc. I travel three hours a day for uni and choose to stay at home (other than that stint at college. Wouldn’t it be ridiculous if your parent’s tax went to my college fees?)If you live at home and your parents can’t cover your basic needs, then chances are your family is receiving some form of assistance from Centrelink. It’s another thing if your family can support you but choose not to. I am not bitter about not receiving youth allowance because I know that I don’t need it. I have friends who live in nice houses, drive nice cars, went to private schools and whose parents own a business or other vast assets and still receive that $9000 a year. Too much red tape involved with Centrelink? Well, I just gave evidence why it’s necessary. They are still my friends and I move on knowing that my integrity is intact.
And I don’t understand why people kick up a fuss regarding HECS. We all want free education but at the same time we are always pointing out that country’s lower tax rate with envy. I think the HECS system is pretty generous. For a HECS commerce student like myself, I will end up with approx $27,000 debt (and it’s roughly $15,000 for a single arts degree). Under this system, you don’t pay the debt until you earn a certain amount of income. Fristance, if you earn $40,000 after graduating, you would have to pay back only $1600 per year. The debt doesn’t accumulate interest (only CPI indexed and you can pay off more if you want). Seriously, from the example I have just mentioned, is it that hard? Most kids would probably spend more on alcopops.
There were also many comments along the lines of ‘we are the future of this country, you should be investing in us’. Wow, I thought excessive ego was reserved for broad-shouldered jocks. The leaders of the future will not be the whiners of today, they will be the ones who get on with it no matter how hard it is.
We can all say we have it tough in life, some tougher than others but *cliché alert* at the end of the day, if there’s a will there’s a way. During the difficult times, it will be necessary to be resourceful, make some sacrifices and succumb to compromises. That may mean living further away from university or at home, public transport instead of a car, not buying fashion magazines or having one fewer shot of your favourite spirit. In one episode of Q&A, a law student claimed that he had to spend about $800 on textbooks a semester and therefore a total of $8000 throughout his 5 year degree. This guy must be allergic to second books or something, he is also a stupid knob. Anyone who spends that much on textbooks reluctantly is a knob. I managed to purchase all my books last semester for under $150. You search online, on campus, you buy older editions, you supplement with new books in the reserve section, you do everything you can to lower the cost without jeopardising your study. Be resourceful rather than just relying on other people to pit you out.
Bottom line is, I advocate the assistance and the further growth of assistance to students who are actually living in poverty and who need financial assistance to ensure they have equal access to education and the like. However, I do not advocate for the assistance of students whose parents are more than capable to provide for their children.
The most destructive habit of all is self pity.
‘…my mother and father earn a combined $200 000 a year, which puts me way out of contention for the income assessed youth allowance. As my parents give me absolutely nothing, I’m left to fend for myself.’
With all due respect, I believe this quote was taken out of context. By reading only this particular section of a comment, people are led to believe that this is just some whining student who can’t be bothered to work or “fend for [her]self” when in fact she works 15 hrs a week in addition to a 34 hr per week uni studies. The entire comment could be found here: http://blogs.theage.com.au/yoursay/archives/2008/07/suffering_stude.html?page=fullpage#comments
Anyways, that one quote sparked my curiosity so I followed it back to the source.
You do have a point that as it is, ‘Australia has a very generous social security system’. But I guess that forms a part of the “problem” because it spoils people, somewhat. So it seems no solution will ever be sufficient. Almost like a catch 22 in a way.
You seem pretty angry about it and I hope this isn’t ruining your holidays. You make some fair points though.
I think there are a whole lot of cultural things around Youth Allowance (which was ushered in with a whole lot of protest because it would result in less social security than the previous system). For one, it seems that Youth Allowance is sometimes seen as a rite of passage. This is anecdotal and based on conjecture, but I am unaware of anyone who feels any pride in going through university without resorting to welfare. Perhaps there is a conflict within the drive for independence – on the one hand, being independent of family and on the other hand, being independent of government income support. I suppose to desire to be independent from family dominates because family is immediate, but the desire to be independent from government is subordinated as governmental income support turns into a means to the end of independence-from-family.
On the other hand, there are some aspects about Youth Allowance that are rather silly. Monash Student Association Welfare Officer Fiona Lander’s article in The Age touches on this topic (http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/poverty-should-not-be-a-rite-of-passage-20080704-31tq.html?page=-1) when she says, “And yet we make them [at-risk students] jump through hoops to qualify for the Youth Allowance, and once they do, they can earn only $236 a fortnight before their Centrelink payments start to be reduced. This $236 limit has not been indexed for more than a decade.” $236 a fortnight is not a lot. It might have been a lot a decade ago when we were in primary school, but there’s that thing called inflation…
I am 100% appalled by your comments!! You live at home and have all the benefits such of no rent and no water or electricity bills and thus don’t know the meaning of hardship. Even living 90 mins from the city has benefits, you are able to attend important information sessions which many many rural students are not able to.
I am currently in year 12 and plan to move to melbourne next year from Oyuen, which is situated near mildura, which is 7 hours away! To attend revision sessions for mid year exams, several of my friends had to plan months in advance; they had to find somewhere to stay, give up their weekend sport and than deal with the hefty petrol prices, all so that they could attend the same revision session as many city kids.
Being away from home is bad enough, however looking at the price of living in mildura, both my parents and I will be under financial pressures to move next year. I plan on living on campus at uni mainly because been in a new city/environment I will need to make friends and been close to campus will mean more opportunities for making friends/meeting new people. If you use Melbourne uni as an example, the average cost of living on campus is $16,000 not to mention food and travel costs home.While the uni does provide scholarships these are limited to only a few students. Even with a job, I’ll only be recieving approximately $150 a week, which is not going to go very far. Although my parents do earn above average salary, with a mortage and 4 other siblings, going to uni is a huge extra expense, that’s why I will need youth allowance. However you seem to think that unless you are extremely poor, you are not entitle to this allowance, this is ridiculous.
Furthermore I would like you to remember that you do not know the people who commented on the Age blog and thus really have no idea about their social/living circumstances, words can very limited, so I would like to remind you not to be so damn judgemental, as far as I’m concerned you living the high life atm, close to the city and can still live at home!! Lucky bastard!!
“I think Australia has a very generous social security system, live in Asia and you will know what I mean.”
… you know, when I first came to this country I thought I was seeing money rain from the government-supported sky. Back in Hong Kong we have no anything allowance or, for that matter, a minimum wage (I’ve worked jobs that pay $2 an hour in a city with pretty much the same cost of living as Melbourne [depending on how you weight the index – food/clothes/entertainment/public transport are slightly cheaper but rent is much more expensive, and cars are so expensive that they’re only used as status symbols, not for driving]), so it’s pretty much impossible to work your way through uni there. I think Australian kids are pretty lucky to have the option of youth allowance and the ability to earn a decent income part time – in many other places, if you can’t afford uni, you don’t go to uni, full stop.
I actually have to wonder why parents earning $200,000+ wouldn’t contribute at least partially, though. Sending your kids to a good university and making sure they succeed there is a way of ensuring your own socio-economic standing. If the government wants to invest in the future of their country, most of the benefits of which will accrue long after they’ve left office, surely you’d want to invest in the future of your own family, especially since you’re going to be around and probably needing their support in your retirement after they’ve gotten their jobs? I understand the self-sufficiency argument, and that the parents are free to do whatever they like with their own money, but it boggles me that they wouldn’t at least put a little bit in to avoid the shame of having a drop-out in the family (does upper-middle-class social stigma work the same way in Australia as it does in HK?).
Gianina, thanks for your comments, perhaps I should have included her whole comment. But regardless of how many hours she is working – like Suzanne pointed out – why isn’t her family contributing to her living expenses when they are clearly more than capable of doing so (unless they are abusive or other issues hanging around). If she is entitled to youth allowance, wouldn’t it encourage other students to wrongfully claim that their parents are not supporting them and should receive YA also? That was the point I was making, so I don’t it was taken out of context at all. In hindsight, I was a bit tough on her character since its not not really her fault but she should still get on with it.
ModelMania, nah I am not angry and its certainly not ruining my holidays, I am having a grand ol time (I am typing this not having checked my results yet). Perhaps it’s my writing style or maybe I wanted some sensationalism so you can quote me again on your blog. It adds a whole new dimension to this blogging experience 😛 I agree with you though, the system isn’t perfect but there will always be gaps.
Ema75, I am sorry you are so offended by my post but I thought I made it clear that there should be help offered to rural students…
‘A rural student moving to Melbourne to study veterinary science should be entitled to some assistance because where you live should not determine you future career…’ and I wrote something about equal access to education. If I hadn’t made that point clear in my post, I will make it now:
There should be assistance to rural students.
I am not backing away from anything, just reaffirming an opinion I have always held.
My post is generally aimed at students who live in metro melbourne and choose to move out but really cannot afford to. Basically students who expect the government to support them when they are living beyond their means. Why are students who choose to move out for ‘lifestyle’ or ‘independence’ reasons receiving handouts when there are students who sacrifice that ‘lifestyle or independence’ just so that can scrape past uni?
People should remember that social security was designed (and I say designed because it has been twisted by recent government to include middle class welfare) to help those who really cannot help themselves. I work with disadvantaged groups such as refugees and recently arrived migrants and I have seen poverty (the Australian variety) with my eyes. I think a lot of people haven’t seen or lived in real poverty, perhaps their views would change if they do. btw this comment wasn’t directed at you Ema75, just a general comment.
I have no interest in being an elitist or anything along those lines. Naturally, I knew my post would be controversial but I don’t think I am arguing anything radical. And yes, i shouldn’t be so judgmental since I am just a lucky bastard living the high life…
David, I think I get the point you are trying to make here but I don’t think you quite succeed in comprehending the deeper issues here. You specify who you are aiming this article at ….”students who live in metro melbourne and choose to move out but really cannot afford to”…but I personally don’t know ANYONE who has moved out of home just because they felt like it despite not being able to really afford it. The people you talk of are a very small minority. People KNOW it is expensive and therefore most people do stay at home as long as possible.
There are however many more people who are basically forced to move away at home due to family circumstances; a common theme being emotionally/physically abusive parents or parents who simply cannot afford to support their children anymore.
At Melbourne Uni it is very easy to see the wealth, the excess, the greed….that is because the majority of students do come from privileged backgrounds. It is inevitable that you will meet people whose parents take advantage of our severely flawed tax system and inevitably flawed welfare system.
It is much harder to see those in the University who are truly struggling from a financial/living perspective – and therefore to get those stories into the newspaper articles. There are common themes when it comes to financial problems…and most people are pretty ashamed/embarassed about circumstances they find themselves in. At Melbourne Uni with the wealth and elitism in existence, I imagine people would find it even more difficult to openly admit their living situations. Most people will hide the truth of what is going on and simply create a facade that tells the story they want to tell.
Yes there are people who make up stories about how hard it is to be a uni student but lets call them idiots and leave it at that. It is far far worse to focus on these idiots at the expense and risk of undermining the real and severe financial problems facing University students at Melbourne Uni and in other Universities across the country.