“Some days [we’re] eating less than what we want to eat, so going without breakfast and lunch.”
That’s the sad reality for University of Auckland student Matiu Rei (Ngāti Whakaue, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Mutunga) ahead of the coalition government announcing its budget.
“We all need to eat, we all need to be healthy and we need to eat the right things, so make sure food is affordable for tauira.
“Some sacrifices we have to make is that somedays [we’re] eating less than what we want to eat, so going without breakfast and lunch. Not saying that it’s necessarily a bad thing but I think all of us could eat a little more, especially us students.
“[We’re] just sacrificing the luxury of being able to eat enough or as much food as we like.”
— Matiu Reti, University of Auckland student
Among the coalition government’s policies affecting students is the removal of half-price public transport for under-25s.
Rei said it was a struggle for him and his friends to get to university due to the higher prices.
“We’re not working full time, we’re having to study fulltime as well, to relieve the pressure off us financially with initiatives like reducing public transport here in Auckland, in Tāmaki.”
“To get from our house to school can be quite expensive, so that means sometimes we’re not going into university because public transport is expensive.
“Just learning to balance the money we do has become really hard.”
One of Rei’s close friends is currently ineligible for a student loan or allowance, meaning he has to work to survive in Aotearoa’s biggest city.
“The money he gets is the money he works for and because he studies three papers, that’s one short of what a full-time student [is].
“He’s working part-time and studying part-time but it’s a really difficult time so he doesn’t get much money and that money’s meant to cover his rent and rent isn’t cheap, then there’s food, groceries, and then public transport,” Rei said.
He also said another struggle he has faced since leaving high school has been the healthcare system, in particular the lack of financial support for dental care past age 18.
“I think that [is] a big issue for people moving out of high school because they won’t be used to paying for healthcare, dental care, and all that.”
Coming from Rotorua, transitioning from the small town to Tāmaki Makaurau to study logic and computation was a big step for Rei, who found the health systems in Auckland a bit more challenging.
“When I was a first-year a couple of years ago when I first moved up to Tāmaki to study and I went to book a doctor’s appointment, I had to wait for two [to] three weeks.
“Back at home I didn’t really have that issue. Usually I would have to wait a day or two maybe a couple of days and this was growing up there was always good access to doctors and nurses.”
He believe’s Tāmaki Makaurau’s large population is responsible for the wait time.