At the turn of the year, the tuition fee will be increased by 8.7 percent, in accordance with the new price base amount. That means around a thousand Swedish kroner a month for a full-time university student.
But it is not enough all the way, according to Sofia Holmdahl, confederation president of Stockholm’s student unions, SSCO. Sofia Holmdahl thinks that the tuition fee should be increased further.
– People are having a hard time now. They contact us and are worried about how they are going to get it together, she says.
Even before the cost of living began to rise, SSCO calculated in its report Stockholm’s student budget that a student in Stockholm lost close to SEK 2,700 a month.
According to Sofia Holmdahl, many students are forced to work to a greater extent than before. There are also those who have opted out of studying in the current situation.
– They are afraid of not being able to afford to be a student.
Students are forced to interrupt their studies
Anton Sánchez Sulejmani, chairman of the Uppsala student union and member of the Social Democratic Student Union, also notices the tough situation. He testifies that some cancel their studies because they cannot afford to be a student.
He is positive that the tuition fee will be increased at the turn of the year – but it is too late.
– Inflation is already up close to 10 percent and then the rent increases will come. It feels like the students are not seen as an important group in society and are being neglected.
The Minister of Education: “Historically large increase”
Education Minister Mats Persson (L) says that the government is aware of the situation for students. He emphasizes both the new high-cost protection and the increase in the student aid as help in students’ wallets.
– It is a historically large increase that is taking place now. In modern times, CSN has never been enumerated so much.
Mats Persson says that there are currently no plans to increase the tuition fee further, but the government is monitoring the situation and does not rule out anything in the future.
That students can experience that they are not seen as an important group in society says Education Minister Natt he understands.
– We want to change that. We think it is important that it pays to get an education and that we highlight education and knowledge as something important.
See what Education Minister Mats Persson (L) says about the situation for students in the clip above.