Imagine this: You are a nursing student, balancing a full course load with long hours on a hospital ward. You started your placement at 4am this morning, and you are aware that the gruelling hours might drag into the night. Your pulse is high – just like your step count – as you run between patients desperately needing your care. You feel valuable. And you are – to the government – because you are working for free. This is the reality for thousands of Australian students undertaking unpaid placements, an essential part of their degrees. And the cost, both financial and emotional, is staggering.
For students like Piper Wood, a first-year nursing student at the University of Queensland, unpaid placements are more than just a learning experience: they are a financial and mental endurance test. “Being on unpaid placement has a huge strain on my financial situation,” she says. “During the work integrated learning weeks, I often work before or after my placement and always on weekends too.” The relentless grind is what leaves students like Piper on the edge of burnout.
In 2023 a Poverty on Placement survey conducted by the Griffith University Postgraduate Student Association (GUPSA) painted a bleak picture. With 1141 students surveyed, 96.5 per cent reported losing regular income during their unpaid placements. But that’s not all: 80 per cent also saw a spike in their daily expenses following placement like fuel, parking or other means of transportation expenses. For more than a third of the students surveyed, the financial strain was so severe they had to move just to make their placement work.
Nursing lecturer and academic lead for UniSC’s School of Health work integrated learning Dr Matthew Mason has seen the toll unpaid placements take on students firsthand. “Placements are often full-time, 40 hours a week,” he says. “Even though we recommend that students don’t work outside of placement, we know many of them have to.” And it’s not just wallets that are thinning out. “I know there are students who don’t eat when they’re on placement,” Dr Mason says. “If you’re working 40 hours on placement on top of your regular job, you’re going to be tired. Your academic performance is going to suffer.”
These financial pressures seep into every aspect of students’ lives. According to GUPSA, 98 per cent of students reported being negatively affected by financial difficulties during placements, and the ripple effect was enormous: 93 per cent said their stress levels skyrocketed, 81 per cent felt their mental health deteriorated, and 76 per cent reported that their sleep suffered. The data tells a stark story: Unpaid placements don’t just cost money – they cost students their well-being.
Piper Wood’s story echoes the statistics. In a single week, she’s expected to be on placement, in class and working a part-time job to make ends meet. “In the weeks leading up to my placement, I have to work extra shifts to support myself for when I’m on unpaid placement,” she says. “By the time placement comes around, you’re already burnt out.” Her story is far from unique. Students across Australia are facing the same relentless cycle. A cycle that has severely worsened following the inflation and cost of living crisis.
As of July 2025, the Australian Government will introduce a new financial aid initiative, The Commonwealth Prac Payment, in order to, hopefully, alleviate some of the financial strains following unpaid student placement. Approximately 68,000 students are expected to benefit from the payments. Eligible students will receive $319.50 per week while on placement, with the payment being means-tested to ensure that those who need the financial assistance most will receive it.
But this new initiative from the government has been met with some scepticism. Piper Wood is one of many students worried about the limitations of the means-tested payments. “I’m not eligible for any government financial support due to my parents’ income,” she says. “Their income doesn’t help me personally, but it takes my opportunities away. The compensation should be based on the value of our work, not on external financial factors.” Dr Mason shares Piper’s concerns about the upcoming payment scheme. “It’s good that it’s being acknowledged, but I have my concerns with how much students will actually be paid,” he says. He worries that many students will be excluded from receiving the financial support they desperately need.
The new payment scheme is a start, but both students and educators believe more needs to be done. Dr Mason points out that even though students are on placement to learn, they’re often treated as if they’re “free” labour. “Students are not working for free. They’re undertaking study,” he says. “But sometimes students are seen as an extra workforce. They shouldn’t be there to work ‘for free’. This is a part of their degree.” And Piper shares this experience. “As nursing students, we face some tough work environments that can lead to emotional exhaustion,” she says. “Even as first years, we’re expected to be independent and act as if we’re just one of the staff members on the ward. You often have to remind the registered nurses that you’re only a first year and can’t take on so much responsibility.”
The unpredictability of placement hours doesn’t make it any easier. “The hours vary from early mornings to starting in the middle of the night,” Piper says. This lack of structure wreaks havoc on students’ ability to hold down part-time jobs, leaving them scrambling to find flexible employers who can accommodate their erratic schedules. “I have had to find several jobs in order to juggle specific hours and work around my degree.”
The emotional pressure of unpaid placements is immense – and sometimes too big for students to succeed. Dr Mason has seen students delay their progression just to save up enough money to survive their next unpaid placement. In extreme cases, students are forced to choose between completing their degree or paying rent. “I think any income is better than nothing,” Dr Mason says. “I’d like to see more support for students undertaking placement, because the university can only do so much.”
For nursing student Piper Wood, it is about more than just a pay check: It is about recognising the value of her work. “I do love what I do and I can’t wait to get paid doing it,” she says, still concerned that she won’t receive any government payments when the 2025 Prac Payment initiative rolls out. “We contribute significant time, effort and skill to the workforce, regardless of our personal circumstances,” she says. “I just hope that the system begins to value us for the work we do, rather than where we come from.”
