Expensive rents, canteen closed

Students groan under high living costs

ÖH University Graz Chairwoman Maja Höggerl and Deputy Chairwoman Philip Zörner

(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian)

More than 60,000 students are returning to university in Graz at the beginning of next week, 30,000 of them to Karl-Franzens-University. Rising prices are pushing more and more students to their limits - and now the canteen on Sonnenfelsplatz is also closing.

The University of Graz campus is slowly starting to teem again: first-semester students are flocking to Sonnenfelsplatz, the café seating areas are full and some are climbing the steps to the entrance of the canteen. It is still open, but on October 1, the institution of student life in Graz closes. "The location has not been economically viable for years and the costs have not been covered for some time," said the operator, Österreichische Mensen Betriebsgesellschaft. 

The closure cannot be due to demand. "Five to ten people a day come because of the canteen stamp," says Maja Höggerl (VSStÖ), Chairwoman of the ÖH at the University of Graz. With this stamp, the menu in the canteen is subsidized with 90 cents. Now KF students have to travel to the University of Technology to be able to use the stamp. "The point of the canteen is to provide a low-cost lunch for students. Giving that up is wild," says Höggerl. "At a price of less than ten euros for a meal, the private sector simply can't compete."

The canteen at Sonnenfelsplatz closes on October 1

(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian)

The ÖH is continuing to fight to keep the canteen open, says Philip Zörner, deputy chairman of the action group. "If this is not possible, we are calling for a student kitchen with microwaves, kettles and work and eating areas. Students keep asking us for this." 

Social pot reaches its limits
The ÖH also has first-hand experience of students' financial concerns. "Our social pot for emergencies has 140,000 euros - we are reaching our limits," says Höggerl. Typical emergencies include a broken washing machine, a stolen bike, the loss of a part-time job, but also increased rents or parents who can no longer afford to support their children. 

"The proportion of working students is rising, and our mental health funding is being fully utilized," says Zörer. The student representatives expect more support from politicians: "After all, graduates are the professional group that pays the most taxes."