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<p>Across Europe, young adults face mounting housing affordability challenges, marked by dependence on private rental market, reliance on family support, and delayed access to ownership. Students are among the most affected groups, as their low and often unstable financial resources leave them especially vulnerable. However, little is known about how these conditions shape the individual experiences and life course decisions of doctoral students. To address this gap, this paper draws on 40 in-depth interviews with PhD candidates in Warsaw, Kraków, and Łódź to explore how they navigate housing constraints. The analysis emphasizes how housing insecurity interacts with personal choices and life trajectories, revealing the ways in which PhD students embody an ‘in-between’ status. They are caught between academic prestige and material insecurity, balancing dependency and autonomy, and reconciling short-term coping strategies with long-term aspirations. While frequently reliant on accommodation in the private rental market or family support, which they associate with a prolonged ‘student life’, homeownership—especially mortgage-financed—emerges as the dominant aspiration culturally linked to markers of adulthood and socioeconomic stability. Finally, although participants voiced strong critiques of underfunded scholarships, unstable employment, and a dysfunctional rental market, these grievances rarely translated into collective action, highlighting the importance of individual strategies and decisions in shaping their housing situation.</p>

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Between student life and adulthood: housing experiences of PhD students in Poland

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月27日

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  • Justyna Orchowska,
  • Nina Wróblewska

摘要

Across Europe, young adults face mounting housing affordability challenges, marked by dependence on private rental market, reliance on family support, and delayed access to ownership. Students are among the most affected groups, as their low and often unstable financial resources leave them especially vulnerable. However, little is known about how these conditions shape the individual experiences and life course decisions of doctoral students. To address this gap, this paper draws on 40 in-depth interviews with PhD candidates in Warsaw, Kraków, and Łódź to explore how they navigate housing constraints. The analysis emphasizes how housing insecurity interacts with personal choices and life trajectories, revealing the ways in which PhD students embody an ‘in-between’ status. They are caught between academic prestige and material insecurity, balancing dependency and autonomy, and reconciling short-term coping strategies with long-term aspirations. While frequently reliant on accommodation in the private rental market or family support, which they associate with a prolonged ‘student life’, homeownership—especially mortgage-financed—emerges as the dominant aspiration culturally linked to markers of adulthood and socioeconomic stability. Finally, although participants voiced strong critiques of underfunded scholarships, unstable employment, and a dysfunctional rental market, these grievances rarely translated into collective action, highlighting the importance of individual strategies and decisions in shaping their housing situation.