{"id":144773,"date":"2022-10-10T14:36:37","date_gmt":"2022-10-10T12:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=144773"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:27","slug":"working-more-taking-cold-showers-and-still-in-financial-straits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/10\/10\/working-more-taking-cold-showers-and-still-in-financial-straits\/","title":{"rendered":"Working more, taking cold showers and still in financial straits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Financial hardship among students is growing. Rising gas prices, more expensive groceries and high rents are increasingly forcing students to improvise to make it to the end of the month. Three students share details about their situation: the solutions range from taking cold showers and compromising on social events to working more, even if that is at the expense of their studies.<\/p>\n

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For many students, the heating will stay off for the time being.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWouter Sterrenburg<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Outside the coffee house where she works, Lindsey (25, second-year philosophy student) lets out a sigh. She currently works there 12 hours a week, but that is not enough to make ends meet. \u201cI borrow the maximum loan amount in addition to my income from work, but by the last week of my month, I often only have 10 euros left for groceries. I feel hesitant to ask my parents for money, because they don\u2019t make enough to be able to help me.\u201d Lindsey would like to take one or two extra shifts, but she already has to skip classes for work. \u201cI spend more time at work than on campus. I\u2019d like it to be the other way around.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lindsey would like to work more, but already has to skip classes.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWouter Sterrenburg<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

She has already started living more frugally and hopes to cut back further, since the new gas bill has yet to arrive. She lives in a privately rented and poorly insulated old house. \u201cI\u2019m already having a difficult time getting the landlord to fix the broken front door, so I\u2019m not feeling optimistic. I\u2019ve quit smoking, I eat at friends\u2019 houses, I do my grocery shopping at the market and I\u2019m not going out or to the cinema next month. Hopefully, that way I\u2019ll have something left for the more expensive months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two cubic metres of gas for \u20ac 250 per month<\/h2>

The new gas bill is also causing headaches for Kas (25, final-year philosophy student): \u201cI\u2019m now paying 140 euros more on my own than we paid with three people in my last house.\u201d He takes cold showers, turns off the pilot light and does not have a radiator, which gives him an astronomically low consumption of 2 cubic metres of gas per month. Despite all this, he received an increase that amounts to a total of 250 euros per month. \u201cI borrow money, work as a student assistant, teach master classes at secondary schools and receive a housing benefit, but my income still barely covers my fixed expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t