Israeli Students Face Rising Costs, Reserve Duty Burdens, and Economic Anxiety
As the new academic year opens in Israel, student union head Sivan Koren highlights the heavy toll of reserve duty, soaring living costs, and a looming brain drain, with a third of students considering relocation.
As the new academic year begins with some 400,000 students across the country, the Israeli reality casts a heavy shadow over the celebration. Tens of students are struggling to bridge academic gaps following hundreds of days of reserve duty in the ongoing war, while many others grapple with the soaring cost of living. Academic accommodations and financial aid do not fully meet their needs, and their professional future often looks uncertain.
"Every year, when we ask students about their burning issues, the answer remains 'it's expensive here'," says Sivan Koren, chairperson of the National Union of Israeli Students since 2024. "A young person cannot buy a home in Israel, people finish their degrees with student loans, and they are forced to rely on their parents. This is the first thing that bothers young people here. The second issue is employment, and security is only in third place. People think with an economic mindset—what will they do tomorrow with the diploma and profession they acquire in academia. And they fear their future here in this regard."
A Third Consider Relocation
During a special meeting of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee held last May, Koren presented alarming data showing that one-third of Israeli students are considering relocation due to the soaring cost of living. To curb the brain drain, the student union demanded that the government take immediate active steps, including tax breaks and credit points for working students, sweeping discounts on municipal property taxes, cheaper or free public transport, and the expansion of public housing and student dormitories to ease the heavy rental burden.
"In the recent new student survey, the relocation figure remained almost identical, and regarding employment, only 50% of students work in their field of study, while 42% of them fear their ability to integrate into the job market after graduation," Koren elaborates. "This is an alarming figure, especially in the era of artificial intelligence. Beyond that, two-thirds of students claim they will vote in the upcoming Knesset elections based on the cost of living issue, favoring parties that present an attractive economic platform."
Koren states that the student organization will demand that the next government allocate at least 50 million shekels in the first year to reservist students, channel the budget through the Planning and Budgeting Committee, and find a mechanism to support unbudgeted institutions as well, "because a student who serves in the reserves should not be penalized because of the type of institution they attend."
Regarding academic adjustments for reservists who missed material, Koren notes: "We have been dealing with adjustments for reservists for three years, since October 7. Beyond technical rights and academic accommodations, we sit with the Council for Higher Education, the Chief Reserve Officer, and all institutions to reach agreements on a support framework throughout the academic year. We are in a war, and we must constantly maintain a delicate balance between preserving the quality and value of the degree in the job market—so that no one looks at you differently because you did 500 days of reserve duty—and the benefits we provide throughout the year."
Open University Secedes from the Union
Earlier this month, Mai Hangel, chair of the Open University Student Union—representing some 47,000 students—announced the union's secession from the national student body. Hangel explained that the background to the move was a sense of under-representation in national decision-making centers, alongside dissatisfaction with the diversion of membership fees to controversial political campaigns rather than student welfare.
"It is important to clarify: the student organizations are not collapsing following the Open University's secession because we are the statutory representative umbrella organization," Koren explains. "Practically speaking, the voice of the Open University students will not be represented in the General Assembly. As an umbrella organization, we still represent these students and will continue to do so. I think the secession is a pity because we could have done it differently, and those who will be hurt are the Open University students whose voices will not be heard around the table."
Diverse Academia and Political Involvement
In December 2025, the student union actively joined the struggle against the IDF draft exemption law, participating in protests in Jerusalem's Givat Ram and posting billboards. "We launched this struggle out of the understanding that it is relevant to young people our age and relevant to our future," Koren explains. "We understood that if we don't deal with it, no one else will. All the other organizations operating there are not representative organizations."
Regarding the union's political involvement, Koren emphasizes: "We represent nearly 400,000 students, including engineering students. The students are represented through the chairpersons of their associations, who outline the policy of our General Assembly. The assembly is the one that decides what the union will do tomorrow morning. Sometimes there are disagreements, and that is fine. Academia is diverse, and we want it to remain so."
Addressing the challenges of the global academic boycott against Israel, Koren calls it a descent into the abyss. "We see students and researchers whose research budgets have been cut, and we see that our partners around the world—even those who love us—cannot protect us. Recently, Open University students were in a delegation to The Hague for a week of debates, and our foreign relations department had to assist them in real-time after receiving information about a large pro-Palestinian protest, leading the university to bring them back home. We see how a student experiences antisemitism at the edge, even when going on a delegation, and this is a gloomy phenomenon that we expect the next government to address."
