Students say they're struggling and some are paying double rent as universities continue to charge for unoccupied rooms during Level 3.
AUT student Daishah Morgan, 17, moved home when Level 4 was announced to support her mother.
Her mum’s on the sickness benefit and her partner recently lost his job. Ms Morgan pitches in about $250 a week to cover her mum’s rent and food for them both.
“I’m wanting to be close to my mum at the moment... I need to help my mum out at home because she's not receiving enough WINZ subsidies to support me,” Ms Morgan says.
She says she moved out of the Akoranga Student Village because she was worried about her safety, and worried for her mum.
“Most people decided it was best to leave just because we would be in a bubble of 200-plus people. I think it would be so hard to keep up social distancing.”
But she says when she moved out, she wasn’t expecting to have to keep paying her full $290 a week rent for her empty university room.
All up, she’s paying $540 a week in accommodation costs, which her part-time job doesn’t cover. She says she’s spent more than half her personal savings on rent since the lockdown started.
“It stresses me out a lot, constantly having to worry about if money is going to be an issue and if we're going to be able to survive this week, or if I’m going to have enough food at home.”
It follows revelations students were paying for accommodation they weren’t staying in. (Source: Other)
Both of AUT's student accommodation buildings, Wellesley Student Apartments and Akoranga Student Village, are operated by Campus Living Villages New Zealand. The company has received more than $915,000 from the government’s wage subsidy to continue operating.
Last week, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said it was “utterly unacceptable” for accommodation providers receiving the government wage subsidy to be charging full rent for rooms.
“I would expect any provider taking up the wage subsidy to ensure that the benefits of that flow through to their residents,” the minister told 1 NEWS.
“Beyond that, we’re looking closely at the situation to see what more can be done, and I know the institutions themselves are doing the same.”
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the government has a "very clear" expectation of how universities receiving the wage subsidy should be behaving.
“There is a role for the government to play to sort this out because it will seem patently unfair to many people.”
AUT says it’s “negotiating” with the owners of its student accommodation buildings.
“Any reductions the landlords are able to provide will be passed on to our students,” a spokesperson said.
The request for payment came despite more than 90 per cent of rooms having been vacated, but the university says it needs the money to pay for upkeep. (Source: Other)
The university also says this week, it will be back-paying a $60 a week "utilities credit" for students who left during Level 3 and 4. It also says students who are struggling can apply for the university’s hardship fund.
But that’s little comfort for students like Ms Morgan who have spent the last five weeks struggling to make ends meet. She says it would have been nice not to be put in the position where she has to apply for student hardship.
“I haven’t received any credit… it’s not helping me at the moment. It does just seem odd that they've done this when they were forcing us to pay rent. I thought, 'Are you kidding? Is there nothing morally wrong about this?'”
Other students are confused too. While some independently run halls in Dunedin have elected to claim the subsidy, the University of Otago says it hasn’t applied for the wage subsidy for the halls it runs. Students residing at those halls who chose to return home have been offered a $120 a week "rebate".
But student Caleb Jopson says that leaves students still paying around $300 a week in rent for rooms they’re not in. He says all of his things have been moved into storage, and another paying student has moved into his room, so the university could maintain social distancing.
He says if it had been made clear by the university at the start of the lockdown that that would be happening, he would never have left.
“It costs a lot to live at home, paying for food and electricity, plus you're paying for that at halls… I would have chosen to stay (at the halls) just to save money,” he says.
Mr Jopson says he’s hoping the University of Otago will follow Victoria University, which backed down from a $150 "holding fee" for empty rooms after pressure form students.
“I hope they do see the example Vic has made by backing down and follow in those footsteps, maybe not charging nothing but just being a bit more fair about it. $295 a week is a lot to come up with for something we aren't using.”
Meanwhile, Ms Morgan is hoping her financial situation won’t affect her studies long-term.
“I would probably be in a situation that forced me to leave studying if Level 3 is extended. We will eventually run out of money and it'll just get harder and harder until there's nothing left.”
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