By IAN FENTON
THE NTEU has approved the relaxation of limits on earning allowing students to earn $170 more a fortnight without facing deductions of government support.
Industrial Officer of the ANU branch Peter Davidson said, “If it allows students to have a little bit of gravy on their rice and potatoes than I think that’s a good thing”.
“There is nothing wrong with students being able to contribute to the community by getting out and working,” he said.
However, a report by NTEU University of Canberra branch president Craig Applegate and fellow academic Anne Daly from 2006 showed that working up to 10 hours a week can be beneficial to a student’s studies but after that grades begin to decline.
Another report released by the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Council in 2007 stated that in 2006 72.3% of all students were in paid work during semester and of the full-time students the average number of hours worked per week was 14.8. 40.2% of full-time students and 55.3% of part-time students said their work had an adverse affect on their studies.
ANU Student Association welfare officer Bronwyn Evans said the intention was certainly not to encourage students to work more instead of studying, and when asked about whether youth allowance should be indexed said she felt the issues were unrelated.
“One is taking money from government coffers and the other is just changing policy to allow students to have more money,”
UCSA president Kurt Steele said that it was a good thing they have extended it (deduction free amount), but reemphasised that the actual payments have not been indexed since 1993 and are still below the poverty line.
“If students are working more than 15 hours it is going to have a bad effect on their studies,” he said. “Which means they are affecting their own investment because they are paying to go to university.”
The indexation means that students who receive Centrelink will now be able to earn up to $10,400 a year without affecting payments compared to the $6000 they could earn previously.
The Vice-Chancellors’ report also said that only 35.2% of students received youth allowance or Austudy a figure that is likely to drop when work participation criteria is cut in January 2010.
