Role: Project leader
This was my BSc Honours project. I conducted research on financial stress of tertiary students in relation to fees-free education, socio-economic status, debt, and subjective and objective financial stress measures.
I was supervised by Emeritus Prof Simon Kemp and Dr Viviana Bustos. The research was published in New Zealand Journal of Psychology. Citation and pdf are available from the link below.
This was my first first-author paper, research conducted during 2018 (my BSc Honours year) at University of Canterbury, following then Labour-led New Zealand government’s Fees Free education policy that has covered the first-year tertiary education tuition fee.
The current (2024) National-led New Zealand government announced that this policy will be replaced by a final-year free tuition. I made a short commentary on this policy, initially published via LinkedIn in June 2024.
Publication
Afzali et al. (2020). Perception of financial satisfaction and its implications for free first-year education in New Zealand university students.