We want to know. Financial Stress, Accommodation Insecurity and Food Insecurity in Undergraduate Students: Results from the 2018 Higher Education Accommodation and Financial Stress Survey

Australia is a wealthy nation, yet this wealth is not spread equitably. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) economic inequality is the difference in how assets, wealth, or income are distributed among individuals and/or populations, as well as the gap between rich and poor, income inequality, wealth disparity, wealth and income differences, or the wealth gap (OECD, 2019a). People are classified as being in poverty “when their household’s disposable (after-tax) income falls below a level considered inadequate to achieve an acceptable standard of living” (Davidson, Saunders, Bradbury & Wong, 2018, p. 18). Whilst, analysis of trends reveals that poverty in Australia is decreasing over time (OECD, 2019b), compared to the 34 other OECD countries, of which Australia is a member, there is an above average rate of Australians who live in households with incomes below the poverty line, which is set at 50% of the median household income for all Australians. Furthermore, Australia is ranked as having the 14th highest rate of poverty in this group (Davidson, Saunders, Bradbury & Wong, 2018).