Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemLiving below the poverty line: a phenomenological study of the experiences of students of education at the University of Ballarat( 1998)Until at least the early 1970s people who were favoured with economically advantaged backgrounds were more likely to study at Australian universities than those people with low socio-economic backgrounds. Over the last two decades there has been a movement to open up higher education to disadvantaged people. Equity policies, such as the student benefit of AUSTUDY and equity funding for universities, have encouraged poorer people into universities to complete their degrees. However, literature indicates that low socio-economic students are still under represented on university campuses, and that the completion rate of degrees for these people is lower than that of people from families of advantaged backgrounds. Little is known about the difficulties that poorer people encounter at University or whether equity policies have really succeeded in helping them to maintain and complete a course of study, particularly during a period of high unemployment in Australia. This thesis attempts to fill the gap in our knowledge about poor university students. It documents qualitative investigation into the poverty experiences of 17 undergraduate students of education at the regional University of Ballarat, in Victoria, Australia. These students, who lived below the Australian Poverty Line for single adults, were engaged in in-depth interviews about their poverty experiences. The major areas explored in this study were the participants' definitions of poverty; the impact that poverty had on their life and well-being; and the description of the ways in which they tried to cope with poverty during their university studies. The phenomenological methodology of Colaizzi (1973) was employed in the analysis of data. A major finding was that when participants lived away from home they encountered poverty experiences that had negative effects on their studies and life circumstances. Moreover, lessened opportunities for employment in Ballarat, and insufficient support from AUSTUDY, were seen as significant factors that contributed to their poverty status.