Recipe For A Degree: Soy Sauce And Rice

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday July 11, 2001

Lee Glendinning

Emma O'Brien has four jobs totalling 40 hours. She is also studying journalism full-time at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). For two months, she tried to live on the youth allowance, but found the money just did not go far enough and there was no way to save.

O'Brien, 21, works in an inner city cafe, often into early mornings. She is a note-taker for students with disabilities and also finds time to tutor in English and Maths.

Last semester she was news editor for the UTS student newspaper, Vertigo, and is now a regular contributor. ``I find it really hard to balance uni and life even if I just take a week off it puts me right out," she said.

Tony Abbott's comments about poverty being the consequences of an individual's choice did not sit well with her. It showed a Coalition Government out of touch, she said. ``This is why they won't get re-elected because they say it's all about individual cases and individual stories but they don't look at how individual people are living."

Her four jobs bring in a total of $300 a week after tax. She pays $105 a week rent to live in a Darlinghurst sharehouse. She is trying to save to pay for study in Germany to complement the international studies component of her course.

``After you pay rent and bills you sometimes think well, I might not be able to eat this weekend," she said. ``You have to pay union fees, association fees and buy notes for courses which are supposed to be free. But they never are."

Sunanda Creagh, 21, also studies journalism and receives both youth allowance and rent assistance, of $347 a fortnight from which she pays $110 weekly rental to live in Glebe.

She also works long hours for the UTS student representative council, for which she receives an honorarium. This helps but not much. Educational costs were never ending, she said.

``At the start of this year, one subject cost $45 and another was $40 and it means all the money is gone for a fortnight in one day," she said. ``When you first receive youth allowance at the beginning of the week it's OK but by the time you get to the end of the fortnight you are always scrounging around and end up having to eat rice and soy sauce."