She dreams of being able to buy proper food, like minced meat and mozzarella.
Alexandra Berntling, 25, radiates a zest for life and faith in the future in the summer wind blowing between the gray concrete blocks of student housing in Solna.
She is a newly qualified teacher, will start a master’s programme in religious history this autumn, and works part-time as a bartender. Her rent is around 6,000 kronor a month and she struggles to make ends meet.
When you’ve been living on noodles for a week and suddenly have a salad, your body screams “finally.” After a while, you feel both mentally and physically worse from living on the margins, she says.
Student Valentin Rodikov, 23, agrees.
Finding a part-time job that fits with a full-time study schedule is not easy, and universities often encourage students not to work but to study full-time, he says.
Shrinking margins
Students are left with less and less money after paying for food and rent, according to the annual calculation by loan broker Lendo.
In the best-case scenario, they have 347 kronor left per month - assuming they receive housing benefit of around 1,300 kronor per month.
The amount a student has left after paying for food and rent is about the same today as it was three years ago, and the money is losing value. An everyday accident is enough to force a student’s budget into the red, says Sharon Lavie, savings economist at Lendo, to TT.
Formally, the student allowance is increased in line with inflation.
But students spend almost their entire budget on food and rent - two items that have risen significantly more than general inflation, says Sharon Lavie.
The largest expense in students’ budgets is accommodation, which in Stockholm takes up 63 percent of the student budget. In Gothenburg, Lund and Uppsala, over half of the student budget also goes to accommodation.
Rent increases due to inflation are not compensated for in the student loan, says Sharon Lavie.
May be subject to refund
Working extra to make ends meet can also be punishing.
A student who earns more than the exemption amount of SEK 114,676 during six months risks having their study funds reduced or having to repay CSN.
However, the government has appointed an inquiry that will, among other things, review whether income during summer vacation should be exempt from the means test.
A full student grant is 13,592 SEK per month.
The study allowance is governed by the price base amount, which is recalculated once a year based on inflation the previous summer.
The government has now appointed an inquiry to look at how the student finance system can better follow the needs of the labour market.
The investigation will also consider adjusting the exemption level during semesters and review whether income during summer vacation should be exempt from the income test.
The assignment is to be reported in October 2027.
Source: Government Offices and Lendo.
