It's no secret that students are increasingly working late shifts after school to get by.
NSW education minister Verity Firth recently argued that she thought this was a big problem, which affected education outcomes. But instead of offering genuine solutions she has urged young people, rather than her own government, to make some changes.
On February 4 she encouraged the 103,000 NSW students aged 15 to 19 who work during full-time study to "strike a better work-life balance". In other words, cut your work hours and deal with the consequences.
"We know more and more young people are taking on part-time work in addition to their studies ... we see in some cases students taking on too much at once", she said.
"The HSC is already a stressful period for students, especially year 12, and if you can roster your work and plan your study you will reduce the stress."
Firth raises an important point, the High School Certificate is an extremely stressful time for year 12 students; a stress that is only exacerbated by an under-funded public school system.
But Firth's call has outraged high school students who are active in young workers' rights.
"She can't suggest something like that without providing a solution", Geli Waite, a year 10 student at Bulli High School in Wollongong told Green Left Weekly. "Young people can't survive and get through school with no money!"
"Verity Firth skipped a step when talking about the cause of the problem. You don't work 'cos it's fun! You work because you have to and until there's a way around that we can't quit our jobs," added Felix Donovan, in year 11 at Bulli High.
Firth suggests that young people should "sit down" with their employers and "negotiate" their working commitments.
Perhaps she hasn't heard the latest from the workplace ombudsman. A recent national audit found that young workers are being exploited and underpaid in large numbers in the retail and hospitality sectors.
Two weeks before Firth's comments, the January 19 Age reported ombudsman Nicholas Wilson had audited 400 employers and found that a whopping 165 of them had underpaid around 1500 young staff.
The young workers, aged between 15 and 24, were ripped off to the tune of $540,300. That's an average of $360 each.
Profit-driven employers will likely try to take advantage of young workers even more as youth unemployment begins to soar.
The majority of young people in the workforce are in casual, non-unionised sectors and young people often need whatever cash they can make. Negotiating with their employers for better rights and wages is understandably a daunting prospect.
"Working's a burden that poorer students have to deal with, not a choice", Waite told GLW. "To get to the heart of problem the government has to provide fully funded education; funding that means paying for everything that young people need to get an education."
Over years of cutbacks, successive state and federal governments have torn public education to shreds.
Education should stand as a fundamental right to all people, yet in Australia it is increasingly becoming a privilege.
Based on current federal government funding models, government funding to private education will outstrip funding to public education.
"It's often people who come from the richest families who do the best in the HSC", said Donovan.
Meanwhile, young people who cannot afford it must work for it.
Resistance affirms the need for the restoration and improvement of public education at all levels, creating a universal, free, quality, secular system open to all those who need and want it.