The Hard Luck Cases

As students will know, if you live in the same area as your parents, you recieve the abated version — the massive $15 per week. This is irrespective of whether you actually live with your parents or not. The reasoning behind this is that parents should be supporting their children through the education system, even though they may be over twenty years old, old.

But take the case of an orphan. According to the bursary regulations, where s/he lives is automatically called home. It's amazing what a government will do to save money.

A student living in Upper Hutt with his/her parents recieves $15. With approximately $7 spent weekly on train fares, the sensible thing to do, of course, is flat in town. If they choose to do this, as most students eventually do, they recieve no extra money, although the average rent in the Wellington central urban area is $15.

For the PhD student, things are even more ludicrous. Expenses are high, and yet they are not automatically entitled to any form of grant. One third of PhD students miss out on any sort of entitlement and have to tutor or do lab supervision to keep themselves going.