Accommodation Hassles Hold Up Hardships

The students' basic bursary was not increased this year and still stands at $23 a week. They may be entitled to a supplementary hardship allowance of up to $20 a week in addition to that, but must first secure their accommodation before they will hear whether they will get the additional allowance.

Consumer and House Price Indexes Compared 1976-1980 (June 1975 = 1000)

Half-year ended	Consumer prices		House prices
	index	% change	index	% change
Dec 1975	1078	7.8	1028	2.8
June 1976	1174	8.9	1061	3.2
Dec 1976	1255	6.9	1094	3.1
June 1977	1336	6.5	1135	3.8
Dec 1977	1439	7.7	1142	0.7
June 1978	1514	5.2	1146	0.4
Dec 1978	1593	5.2	1163	1.5
June 1979	1688	6.0	1194	2.7
Dec 1979	1846	9.4	1220	2.2
June 1980	1994	8.0	1273	4.3

Students from other tertiary institutions, like teachers' colleges, commonly go back to their lecture rooms before the university students, and so get first crack at the flats that are available.

Peggy Walsh, accommodation officer at Wellington Teachers' College, said that she has little trouble. She has fewer students to help, (they call themselves trainees these days), and they start looking a month earlier.

Brian Small, Education and Welfare Vice President of the New Zealand University Students Association, said that last year about 16,000 students applied for the hardship grant, about half of the full-time students at the seven universities.

Mr Small was another who added that rising transport costs are as much a problem as rising rents and the shortage of inner-city flats in most varsity cities, and that is confirmed in the latest revision of the weightings in the consumers price index:

The cost of transportation, in all its forms, has increased from 13.84% of the consumer budget in 1977 to 18.27% in the revised CPI only three years later.

The cost of housing (all kinds) has fallen from 23.53% to 18.38%.