Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ / Yiting Lin
Auckland university students are asking for free public transport and financial support as the fuel crisis continues.
The Auckland University of Technology and the University of Auckland students associations, have launched a joint petition, saying fuel prices are impacting university students disproportionately.
AUT student association president James Portegys said they were calling on the government to give them free public transport as long as the fuel crisis lasts and to include them in the government $50 support package.
Full-time tertiary students in Auckland receive a 40 percent discount on their bus and train fares but Portegys said students were finding it too much with the increases in the price of food and petrol.
Some students were having to travel across town in Auckland just to get to campus, he said.
“So students, particularly AUT, they live at least half an hour from any of our campuses usually. We don’t have much accommodation within the city due to cost and just due to students choosing to live further out cause it’s cheaper.”
There were also a number of nursing students who had to travel some distance for their placements, he said.
At the moment, the university was following the government’s four-step plan and monitoring the situation, but “it’s businesses as usual”, he said.
Research based on an Auckland University survey of nearly 350 students which was published on Tuesday indicated there were high levels of food insecurity amongst students with about 45 percent of those surveyed saying they were lacking reliable access to affordable and healthy food.
Food insecurity was significantly more common among students living away from home, compared with those living at home with parents or family, the survey showed.
Portegys said the experience at AUT backed that up.
“Since 2020 year-on-year we’ve seen an increase in our foodbanks, so we were in the 150 sort of packages a week in 2020 and we’re well into the 1800s last year in 2025.”
Portegys said like other students he was finding that food was much more expensive, it was difficult to get around and you had to plan on how to get from one campus to another with some students skipping lectures due to the cost of fuel.
The rising costs meant that it was becoming increasingly difficult for students to move away from home, he said.
He said he wanted the government to give students access to the $50 support package.
“We’d love to see free public transport given to students throughout this fuel crisis to get us to and from campus and help us out just that little bit.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand