Student Debt and Political Participation

This book examines how student debt informs the political action and participation of university students. The scale of student debt is unprecedented, particularly in the English-speaking world. In these democracies, debt has become an increasingly integral part of student life for many young people to enable participation in education and the wider economy. Using New Zealand as a case study, the author challenges existent assumptions about student attitudes towards loans by analysing how students speak about the impact of debt on themselves and their peers, including politically. Listening to these perspectives will provide a more nuanced insight into the underlying tensions and challenges of participating politically in a context of rising debt.
Sylvia Nissen is Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Her research focuses on young people, politics and democracy in a context of environmental change She has published a chapter in an international volume, Student Politics and Protest (2017, edited by Rachel Brooks), and contributed to the Journal of Urgent Writing (2017, forthcoming) and New Zealand Sociology (2016).