The costs of surviving while studying at Otago University

Otago University is facing the prospect of hundreds of staff redundancies in the face of a $60 million budget shortfall.

Overall student numbers are down on what the university forecast but specifically its domestic enrolements that have taken a hit.

The university puts it down to the rising cost of study, a bouyant job market coaxing young people straight to work and drop in the number of students returning after Covid.

So what are the financial realities of Otago student life? Kaia Kahurangi Jamieson is in her second year of a BA and science degree. She talks to Lisa Owen.