Here are the Swedish National Union of Students' (SFS) arguments against those who are opposed to increasing the monthly amount that students can receive as student aid:
Isnt today's level of student aid enough?
Not if you want to have a decent standard of living according to the criteria used by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen). Our calculations are based on the national norm that they use for social security benefits, and we have concluded that students have about 1 100 SEK less every month than that norm. See also SFS' mini budget (in Swedish)
Read more (in Swedish) on the SFS web site
Education in Sweden is free, so if the State and the individual are to share the responsibility, isn't that enough?
That is one way of looking at it, but then you also have to accept that only rich people will be able to go to university. In the long run, that would make Sweden a weak competitor on the global market, as our population will have a low level of education. Is that really how we want things?
How many people are actually concerned here? Aren't you exaggerating the problem?
More than 260 000 people who are studying at universities and university colleges today rely only or partly on student aid as their income. This is 3.7 % of everyone above 18 in Sweden. In other words, this is a lot of people and a large part of our population we are talking about!
It's only for a limited period of time!
Very few people actually think that four years is just a short parenthesis in their life. It's not like your life is on hold just because you are studying.
When you are young you can live with lower standards!
First of all, more than half of all students are above 25. Secondly, these are adults we are talking about. Part of being an adult is that you are able to support yourself financially without having to rely of help from friends or family. Thirdly, nobody thrives under insecure financial conditions, whether they are young or old. Another disadvantage for our society is that, for instance, young people are reluctant to starting a family due to financial insecurity, and that many young people today refrain from going to the dentist for financial reasons. Bad dental health in the population means greater costs to society in the future.
Many students get financial help from their parents
Part of being an adult is to be able to support yourself without having to turn to friends and family for financial support. Furthermore, nobody thrives under insecure financial conditions, whether they are young or old. Having in mind that a large part of the students are over 25 years old, should we really expect parents to support their almost middle-aged children?
It is totally feasible to work on the side
Full time is full time! Of course we are not saying that those who can and want to should not be allowed to work while they are studying. What we are saying, though, is that this should not affect the studies is a negative way. We do not want to see full-time students being forced to work to support themselves. That is like saying it is ok with low-salary jobs where people are forced to work more than full time to be able to support themselves.
Abolish the limitation on how much money students can earn without losing their student benefits!
This is a whole other issue that has nothing to do with the possibility of surviving on student aid! We do not want to see a situation where full-time students are forced to work on the side to survive. That is like saying that it is ok with low-salary jobs where people are forced to work more than full time to be able to support themselves.
Students party a lot
Today's student population is so heterogenous that one cannot make gross generalisations like that. For example, a fifth of all students have their own family with children. In the student budget that SFS has drawn up, and which is based on the national norm for social security benefits, not a single krona goes to parties, alcohol, sweets or magazines. And still, students lack 1 100 SEK every month.
Students buy expensive brand clothing
Possibly. Maybe they have worked on the side to be able to treat themselves to some luxury, or maybe they were given those clothes from relatives that are better off financially? In the student budget that SFS has drawn up, and which is based on the national norm for social security benefits, not a single krona goes to expensive brand clothing, but to standard clothing items from chains such as Hennes & Mauritz, Lindex and Kappahl. And still, students lack 1 100 SEK every month.
What does "poor" really mean?
Being poor is a relative term which must be measured in relation to the rest of the society in which the person is living. We are now living in Sweden, and here we have a certain idea of what it means to live a decent life, which includes having a safe place to live, clothes on your body and food in your fridge. You should also be able to travel to and from you workplace in a reasonable manner. The National Board of Health and Welfare has, in cooperation with the Swedish Consumer Agency, calculated a national norm for this, and it is in comparison with this national norm that we can establish that students living only on student aid are in fact poor.
Has the situation for students really become worse?
Several surveys show different results on how much worse the situation has become for students over the last decades. For example, Swebank has shown that the standard of living for students sank by 40 percent between 1989 and 2004, which can be translated into 490 SEK less to live for every month. If you also take away the 600 SEK housing aid for students from the budget, which only some students qualify for, students have 1090 SEK less every month.
It was much worse when I was young
This is a common argument that we often hear, mainly from people over 40. What one has to remember then is that the current student population is very different from what the student population used to be like. Today, only about half of the students start studying before the age of 25, which means that many of them come from homes that are unable to support them financially.
