When the pandemic hit, Australian National University student Madeline Chia lost her casual work in retail and was forced to study from home.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The education officer for the ANU Students Association (ANUSA) said, even now, students were applying for grants as they struggled with mounting costs.
"It was really, really concerning and ANUSA last year received a lot of cries for help and there were a lot of emergency grants which needed to be filled because students were out of work, out of accommodation and really it was a state of emergency for a lot of students," she said.
ANUSA handed out 1010 emergency grants and 575 grocery vouchers to students in 2020, and requests continue to come in.
The students are bracing for more changes on campus as ANU rolls out its recovery plan in response to the financial hit caused largely by the flow of full fee paying international students being turned off.
The 2020-21 ACT budget includes payroll tax deferrals for universities, capped at $10 million per institution, and grants for saving and creating jobs in the tertiary education, research and growth industry sectors in a future jobs fund.
Ms Chia said the initiatives were a good step but more could be done to directly support students.
"More than 300 staff members are being cut, class sizes are getting bigger, rent's going up, not just at unis but also around Canberra," she said.
"The standard of living is getting so expensive and it's not easy for an everyday person who has a stable job ... it's even harder for students and there's just no lifeline that the ACT government or the federal government is giving us, so it's a very concerning time for us as we get older."
READ MORE:
It is unknown whether Canberra universities have accessed the payroll tax deferral because secrecy provisions prevent the government disclosing information about individual taxpayers.
Details of the grants issued through the future jobs fund have also not been released.
However, ANU vice chancellor Brian Schmidt said the funding boost was a much-needed lifeline for ACT universities.
"This funding will help us recover from the ravages of COVID - so that we can get on with the job of helping our nation prepare for and succeed in the post-COVID world," Professor Schmidt said.
"It is a vital investment in the future of our capital and I want to thank the ACT Government and Chief Minister for their ongoing support and leadership."
For faster access to the latest Canberra news, download The Canberra Times app for iOS and Android.