When I did my Masters, I'd hop on my motor bike and head off to Venus Bay in Victoria, lock the caravan park door and write, sleep, write, sleep. A good memory now and I think it was then. The article could have been stronger if it included the debt levels of post graduate students who didn't have daddy to pay the debt off. I'm pretty sure Natasha Stott-Despoja has those on her website. DEEWR certainly would.

It would be interesting to scope out the amount of time it took to pay back a PhD (no scholarship) and compare it with the amount of money earned by a person on the average wage. In short, are Ph'D's commercially viable? Jay, sounds like you're not in it for the $$.

I'm with you that the Government should do more for post grads but I can't see it happening. Post grads are almost the convicts of the capitalist workplace. No one really cares about them but it's good to say you're related to one.

Oh Jay, ...Jay ... What HAVE you been studying - Entomology? or maybe Particle Physics? Obviously NOT Political Economy! Tragically, your choice of highly-generalised language obfuscates both reality and the solution to your dilemma.

"There are many possible solutions. Universities could look into providing a broader range of living grants and bursaries to postgraduate students facing financial hardship. Universities could also look into providing a range of low-cost student housing options. (This last option would benefit many students in need, regardless of the level at which they are studying.)"

"Working out just what is to be done is a question for not only postgraduates, but indeed for society as a whole. Because we will all reap the rewards."

What you're suggesting here, Jay, is SOCIALISM, and we most definitely can't ... nay, WON"T have any of that!

The only postgrad students 'doing it tough' (even at 'The best of times', as these are said to be) are from Lower-Middle-Class and even possibly Working Class backgrounds. Do you think for a moment that Laughlan Murdoch and his sister, James Packer or the sons and daughters of fabulously wealthy foreign families/dynasties experience such problems? Hardly. Their fees, accommodation and living expenses are often paid for IN ADVANCE (attracting a discount?) out of financial 'Family Trusts' or hidden away in Corporate accounts.

As you ought surely to be well aware Jay, following Dawkins of the Labor Party, 'Universities' and indeed the whole tertiary education INDUSTRY have been corporatised, 're-structured' and largely transformed into bastions of 'user pays' ideology and pragmatism, churning out what Clive Hamilton termed 'educated fools', to man (sic) the corporate towers-of-greed that dominate our city skylines. 'Universities' COULD indeed look into providing a broader range of living grants and bursaries to postgraduate students facing financial hardship.... but are highly unlikely to do so, in my humble opinion.

If you can't afford it, you can't afford it - tragic but there it is.

There are lots of successful people out there who don't even have an undergraduate degree, unbelieveable but true I'm afraid.

A lot of those folks had to go get a job to put a roof over their heads, feed themselves and keep the wolves from the door.

Do your best - but don't ask us all to pay for your lifechoices. Sounds like you intend to be an academic by what you're doing, so work hard and get a part time job, or do your studies part time - lots of folks do that.

Life's hard, but character forming.

Let me add my tale of woe. I have been a full-time PhD student since early 2007. Although I received a GPA of 6.2 in my honours I have been unable to obtain a scholarship. There is no austudy for post-grads.I am fortunate that I have a financially supportive wife, although she only receives a small income. My university has not even given me $1 of paid emloyment. My research is on Muslim insurgency in the southern philippines, so it is very topical. I have publications and have presented at conferences both national and international. I keep going because I will complete my research in early 2010. Do our universities and more importantly our government realise the amount of "free" research our post-grads contribute.
Anyway, keep up your research.
Wasallam
Bob

I agree with rpg - postgrad study is a life choice and it's up to individuals to pay their own way. I combined both undergrad and postgrad study with up to 30 hours of employment a week, year after year, without Austudy, even though I was eligible for it. I never felt like I was "doing it tough".

However, I think my father did it tough by getting up at 4am to work 2 jobs to support his family and then coming home and getting stuck into the gardening and fixing gutters, etc and never complaining about it. Working 2 jobs for years was never really his choice - it was a necessity.

All his children have inherited his work ethic. It ensured that there was no way I was going to whinge and whine about having to study and work - which was my desire and my choice, and something I felt honoured to be able to do. No-one owes me a THING. I did this all by myself and all credit is mine (and my father's).