Students: We're forced to work so that we can eat

The recent hike in the cost of living has seen some students resorting to taking on part-time jobs to make ends meet.

However, the students said, this has nothing to do with the recent suggestion by Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Ahmad Maslan that Malaysians to take on two jobs amidst economic challenges.

Their idiot-proof answer is that it is because they cannot cope with living costs that continue to climb yearly.

The students complained that even the loan from the Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) that some receive every semester is no longer enough for them to subsist on.

Malaysiakini's survey around the Bukit Bintang area found many students, from both private and public institutions of higher learning, saying that they are feeling the burden from the recent rise in the cost of living.

According to public university student Nur Shakira Basharudin, she has to sell banana fritters when not attending classes so as to get extra spending money.

Nur Shakira said she did this to avoid having to ask for more money from her parents, adding that under the current economic climate, her PTPTN loan was no longer enough.

"Yes, I have to sell banana fritters near where I stay to help fund my education... this on days when I don't have classes or when I finish early.

"I can get RM60 a day and share it with two other friends, so I get RM20. If I don't do this for some side income, it would be difficult to pay for my meals and transportation costs to class.

“It would not do for me to ask from my parents," Nur Shakira said, adding that she works at the stall from 7pm to 10pm, whenever she can.

For diploma student Fatin Nur Syafika Mat Piah, she no longer has enough sleep at night as she has taken up a job at a 7-11 convenience store that is open round-the-clock

Fatin Nur Syafika said that her daily schedule is packed tight with classes, so she is forced to work the graveyard shift from 11pm to 7am the next morning, every day.

This, she described, is because after paying her semester tuition fees, all that is left of her PTPTN loan disbursement is RM300 – which must see her through the next six months. An impossibility.

"The PTPTN fund is not enough. Previously, I never thought of getting a job at a 7-11, but looking at the RM300 balance, I now have to work. I used to ask for money from my family, but now I try not to.

"I work from 11pm to 7am and go to class from 1pm until evening, and it goes on every day. I need RM700 a month for rental alone, plus other expenses, and from my job I get RM1,500 a month," said the 19-year old student.

'Times can be quite hard'

Creative studies major Fatin Suhaira Abdul Rahim is using her creative skills to help make ends meet.

Fatin Suhaira said she provides photography services, does freelance graphic design, as well as prints T-shirts to generate extra income.

"I take wedding pictures, edit photographs, and do design work to get more money to help fund my studies. We use what skills we have to earn more spending money, because we have to.

"While the PTPTN loan may be enough for some majors, for us creative majors, it is not enough as it costs money to print assignment photographs, while camera accessories are expensive too.

“So, supporting ourselves with PTPTN money alone is not enough.

"When it is mid-semester, times can be quite hard. I will use all avenues on the social media that I have to find some side income," the 24-year-old student said. -Mkini