Not all students start their studies under the same conditions: while some receive support from their parents, the majority rely on financial aid as well as affordable housing and meals. As a result, students whose parents are not academics often have to work alongside their studies to be able to afford them!
Social background thus plays a decisive role in determining who can afford to go to college and what everyday student life looks like!
A student’s academic success must not depend on their financial circumstances! That’s why we need a comprehensive network of measures to make higher education accessible to everyone:
Two-thirds of all students are at risk of poverty. Because government support is too low, many are forced to work more and more, which in turn hinders their academic success or even leads them to drop out. Financial insecurity during one’s studies is therefore not a personal failure, but a result of political policies and can therefore be changed!
We at the VSStÖ are fighting for free and open access to higher education. Every person has a right to education, regardless of background or financial circumstances. We advocate for equitable universities that exclude no one.
We students are not commodities to be trained for the economy. We want to make our universities places of free and emancipatory education that aim to improve current circumstances and living conditions, rather than being guided by the needs of the market.
We, the Association of Socialist Students, are students from all over Austria who work together for a fairer world and university system. Discrimination, social selection, and unfair study conditions are unacceptable to us – that’s why, since our founding in 1893, we have been fighting at all levels to overcome them.
Whether it’s demonstrations, our group meetings, or our work within the Austrian National Union of Students: we raise our voices and give a platform to all those who experience disadvantages in our society.
Do you ever wonder why our world is so unjust and why nothing seems to change? You’re not alone! Come to our next meeting and join us! You can look forward to exciting discussions, political activism, and many new friendships!