What to look forward to

Tegan Jaggard (she/her)

Students say the minimum wage increase may not help them with the cost of living, but the increase in loan payments will.

As of April 2023, the minimum wage was increased to $22.70 and weekly student loan payments were increased to $302.32.

Charlotte had to pause her study this year in favour of working as a supervisor at a retail store full-time while her partner continues to study. With the money she is currently living on, she said, “This isn’t living, it’s just not dying.”

She said, “Working part-time just wasn’t paying the bills and it was really stressful. I was having to take so many sick days because my financial problems were affecting my mental health so badly.”

Charlottes partner was made redundant earlier this year and struggled to find suitable work, meaning Charlotte had to pay the majority of the bills before student loan payments started.

Charlotte said, “It really sucks, we have next to no furniture and neither of us can afford any.”

Though Charlotte makes over minimum wage at her position and the company raised wages by a $1.55 an hour, “it isn’t enough for what I do.”

The student loan increase also meant her partner could contribute more to the bills while on his job search. She said the extra money “doesn’t make a dent.”

Serena is a second-year psychology student that works at a rehab centre. They said that the increase in minimum wage and student load will help improve their mental health. “The financial life of a student is hard. We [them and their partner] mainly can afford dinner food and that’s it. The minimum wage increase means that the stress all around would shrink.” Their partner Sophie is a first-year psychology student that also works as a retail assistant. They said the minimum wage increase doesn’t really affect them because they make over the new minimum wage already but agree that the loan increases will help pay for food.

Holly, a third-year nursing student had this to say about the loan increase, “After rent, while the increase is really good, it’s not a liveable amount for newer students who don’t have a job yet, especially with winter grocery prices.”

Holly is also a casual healthcare assistant and placement gets in the way of being able to work for weeks at a time.

“The increase in student loans have come at a really good time, with the timing of placement and being unable to work as often as I normally would.” Ashleigh, a third-year design student and fast-food worker, said, “It [the loan increase] helps me because now the loan covers my whole rent and with my wage increasing, I find it easier to afford to live and save money.”

New Massey confessions page will not provide a platform for hate speech

Sammy Carter (she/her)

Massey students finally have a place to anonymously confess their inner thoughts, but the account owner will not tolerate users who use the platform to spread hate speech. During the mid-semester break, Instagram account @masseyuniconfessions was made by the same person who runs the Victoria University confessions page with over 4,500 followers.

The owner, who goes by Anon (anonymous), was accused of censoring free speech after anti-trans activist Posie Parker visited Aotearoa in March.

A Victoria account user commented in support of Posie Parker and called Anon a “biased coward who censors free speech”.

Anon addressed the comment, saying they refuse to cater to people whose free speech actively impedes on other people’s right to live freely and safely.

Anon told Massive an anonymous page was great for students, however there were “opportunists who use the anonymous platforms to spread blatant hate or to harass people”.

“As the solo admin of these pages, they’re obviously going to be influenced by my values and beliefs. I’m not transphobic or homophobic and refuse to provide people with a platform to voice those beliefs.”

They believed the user’s confession was hate speech, “there are plenty of platforms for people with those same beliefs, I would recommend they give those a gander.”

Anon’s rules which protect students are no full names, no hate speech, and no sacrificing privacy. They said having a confession page can be “incredibly liberating” for students.

Over the past two years, Victoria students have learnt to trust Anon, and they hope Massey students will come to do the same.

“It’s been pretty amazing to see that I make people feel comfortable enough to reach out to me, and clearly trust me to remove stuff, or keep information between us.”

So far, Anon had posted confessions about Tussock Cafe, the dodgy elevators, and Massey’s vintage fashion girlies.

Anon started getting requests to create a Massey confessions page in the middle of last year, which they didn’t consider as they weren’t a Massey student.

“But on the 25th time of being asked, I decided I would make one”.

Anon’s favourite part of running confession pages is the community it has built.

They were happy to get to know Massey student president, Jake Law, and support things he advocated for. Anon said, “It’s comforting to know that there is an anonymous platform where you can seek advice, or simply get something off your shoulders without facing judgement or harassment.”

Playing House: Can Kiwis Afford the Future?

Julian Warmington (ia/he/him)

Samuel was sitting on a wall outside Massey University’s Wellington campus on a quiet Tasman Street late one sunny afternoon, watching the sun going down over Mount Victoria and the quaint wooden villas of Mount Cook.

A fourth-year photography student at Massey University’s Wellington campus, he has a degree in science and hopes to start his Masters in photography next year.

He is already one of the most qualified and skilled members of New Zealand society. But in this post-pandemic cost-of-living crisis era, could he ever imagine owning his own home one day?

He said, “I feel like the Kiwi dream, an acre and a house, to me, it’s shifted. I grew up rurally, and always lived on a little land and had a family home and I guess growing up I always thought: Yeah, I’ll do that.”

“But it just seems somewhat unrealistic to me these days. I think property is always going to be a worthy investment for security’s sake, I guess. But I’m not hung up on it like some people are.”

When asked to imagine a future where he had a job for National Geographic and whether that would make a difference to thoughts of buying a first home, he said, “First, I find a lot of nourishment from remaining grounded in one place so I guess that will lead to being a homeowner. I guess I mean, financially, it’s like a more viable business. Be nice to, right?”

Jin and Boru were sitting over in the quad at the rainbow table outside Tussock Cafe.

Jin was studying industrial design three years ago until the course was canned due to the pandemic, so has been taking visual communication design since.

She spent some time at Wellington High School before starting at Massey University, and her mother was here from their hometown city in north China.

Now, her mother has returned to China, and the family home here is in Jin’s name. She feels settled, and, despite disliking Wellington’s weather, she does like the smaller size of the city, and its openness to the LGBTQ+ community.

Boru is from Guangzhou, China’s second largest city. These days though, while studying food science in Auckland, the city of sails seems much too big and busy, and Christchurch is nice and quiet.

Boru aims to work for a few years after graduating, but even then, family back in China would buy a home in his name. He said house prices are cheap here, and homes in China are getting more expensive.

Jeff Elias is a mortgage “advisor and coach” with Futurebound brokers where he started working ten years ago.

He says as recently as 2015-2016, a lower-level professional worker like a teacher or nurse earning $70,000 per year could afford a house in Wellington for $350,000. Today, Elias said he had one customer on a medical staff salary slightly better than a nurse and she was buying a first home in Palmerston North where entry level homes go for about $500,000.

To consider a home in Wellington or Auckland, he said, “You need to have a very, very good single income or you need to be buying with a partner or a friend. Entry into home ownership now seems to be more the early 30s, than it might have been previously in the mid to late 20s.”

When asked about the rise in number of younger people buying homes with friends, Elias said he’s seen one or two per year and it’s not common, but it’s certainly become a thing over the last few years.

He described friends committing to sharing the cost of a house for three years and then deciding whether to continue or to sell and split the equity. When invited to guess, Elias estimated the current economic downturn could last another year or two but hastens to add that he’s not an expert and not even the experts really know either. We’ve just seen the first quarter of a year with house prices decreasing on average all around the country for the first time in many years. That might be welcome news for Massey students who have already graduated and started earning good professional wages.

Students seek alternatives to supermarket as cost of living increases

Dylan Jones (he/him)

Students are getting excited by affordable broccoli after the cost of living has risen, but there may be other options out there.

Massey University Albany students are taking produce from a free emergency food table more than they used to as supermarket prices continue to rise, says campus chaplain Carrie Rambo-Toehemotu.

“Four or five years ago, produce would be the last thing to go. Last year when the price of vegetables started climbing, students came by all excited about the broccoli,” RamboToehemotu said.

Stats NZ reported a 23% increase in produce prices since February last year, with the worst affected, tomatoes, doubling in price.

Students interviewed on the Albany campus hadn’t heard about supermarket alternatives such as online store Supie.

Supie has been running for almost a year, with founder Sarah Balle making it her mission to fix a “broken system” through the grocery delivery service. The online supermarket has initiatives which aim to reduce food and packaging waste as well as prices. The initiatives included the No Waste range of items frozen before their useby date and sold at reduced cost. Despite alternatives like Supie coming onto the scene, Balle said that Kiwis are “super habitual, and it’s hard for us to break our habit of driving to the supermarket”.

Health science student Zoë Boonzaier, 21, said it sounded like a “top notch option”.

Business student Derek, 19, has had to make some tough calls on his shopping choices now he’s flatting. Derek said, “I end up buying some produce every two or three weeks instead of every week.”

Fellow business student Beck, 18, suggested a local Auckland produce store, Fruit World, as a more affordable option.

A comparison of the same shopping basket found Supie had the cheapest price on eight items, compared to Pak’n’Save with four, and Fruit World with three.

Fruit World had the best deal on portobello mushrooms at $14 per kg, $4 cheaper than the others. Yellow capsicums from Supie were almost a third cheaper than the others at $1.69 each.

As for the exciting broccoli? This week it was cheapest at Pak’n’Save at $1.99.