A young Aussie has slammed an “unfair” practice that requires university students to work for free in order to graduate.

Unpaid work placements are a mandatory part of many university degrees, including nursing, teaching, social work and psychology. Nursing degrees, for instance, require at least 800 hours of placement, while social work and occupational therapy programs require 1,000 hours.

Western Sydney University graduate Nariman Dein told Yahoo Finance unpaid placements meant students were “forced to choose” between getting an education and working to earn enough money to live.

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The 22-year-old recently graduated with an honours psychology degree - along with $40,000 in HECS debt - and said mandatory unpaid placements were preventing her from going back to university to complete her Masters.

“I really wanted to do my Masters and I have always wanted to be a psychologist, but I just found it unfair,” Dein told Yahoo Finance.

“It didn't seem right to me that I’m going to be training to be a psychologist and actually offering what I’ve learnt at uni, just for me to not make any money off it.”

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Dein currently works part-time as an applied behaviour analysis (ABA) therapist, as well as part-time as a social media creator. She said she now won’t consider doing her Masters unless placements become paid, something the University Accord’s recent report has recommended.

“It kind of pauses your life in a way where I would have to stay at home and live with my parents if I wanted to do my Masters,” Dein said.

Aussies struggling

Dein recently posted a video to TikTok about unpaid placement requirements and received an influx of responses from other Aussies.

“I’m doing nursing and my uni doesn’t allow us to work during placement at all. Our longest placement is 6 weeks… no pay or work for 6 weeks,” one said.

“I struggled so much between doing uni full time, doing an unpaid three month internship and my paid job. Balancing all three was impossible so I quit my paid job to finish uni,” another said.

“The teaching degrees work placement/prac pays you $0 an hour for 6 weeks of Monday to Friday 9-3pm. It’s ridiculous they should pay at least [the] minimum rate,” a third wrote.

Dein believes indexation of HECS debts is adding further financial pressures and making it “impossible” for younger Aussies to afford to study.