Popular Music Education: A Luxury Item During the Cost of Living Crisis?

"This paper reports on how the global cost of living crisis is affecting popular music students in both the UK and Australia. It looks at how these young people explain their reasons for studying popular music, given the financial sacrifices they make to study for a potentially uncertain and precarious career path.
Currently in Australia, it is reported that more than half of students who live out of home to study aren’t able to access youth allowance. Additionally, 110,000 students are attempting to live on a mere $26AUD a day. One in seven students are regularly skipping meals because of financial hardship. The situation is far worse over in the United Kingdom, particularly in London, where it is currently reported that it costs students between £261 - £327 per week in living, with reports that students have under £12 per week to live off, with one in ten students having accessed food banks. Both countries are also currently being impacted by a housing shortage, rendering some students as homeless.
A key objective of this research is to gain new insights from popular music students, currently living amidst the current ‘cost of living’ crisis. We conducted over 80 in-depth interviews with students studying popular music. Findings indicate that these young adults face hardship through long work hours in unrelated jobs, less time engaging in their studies and portfolio development, causing high levels of anxiety and worry in relation to their futures. However, the students remained determined and hopeful about embarking on a music career and discussed how creative communities of like-minded peers that they meet within their popular music degrees, provide the inspiration and solace to struggle together, and stay focused on their aspirations.