It costs no more than $12 a day, but for many of Melbourne's 30,000 international students, the beep of their myki card represents a meal they will not have.

Despite having incomes of less than $20,000 or even $10,000 a year, many foreign students in Victoria have to pay full public transport fares. To make ends meet, the students say they live on toast, cram into apartments two or three to a room, and are exploited in illegal $8 or $10-an-hour cash jobs.

Student Jack Cheng says many people mistakenly believe foreign students are cashed up. Credit:Wayne Taylor

Now Melbourne City Council is set to lobby on behalf of the huge resident population of foreign students by asking the state government to follow the path of all other Australian states and give them fare concessions.

A report likely to be endorsed by the council on Tuesday shows that almost 70 per cent of Melbourne's international students believe the cost of public transport is most in need of improvement. It also outlines evidence that the lack of concession tickets can reduce student safety and make Victoria a less desirable place to study.