Alliance tertiary education policy announced
Jim Anderton MP Mon Sep 20 1999
Phasing out of tertiary fees, zero interest on student loans and the introduction of allowances for all students are the main features of the Alliance tertiary education policy.
It was released at Auckland University today by Alliance leader Jim Anderton and education spokesperson Dr Liz Gordon.
The Alliance estimates
that full-time student numbers would be increased by about
31,000.
The $425 million cost of the tertiary
education policy would be covered by the reintroduction of
an unimproved-value tax on commercial land (UVT), which
exempts land such as farms, residential homes, Crown land,
Maori customary land, and forest reserves. It was removed in
1990, the same year student fees were introduced and the $3
billion student debt began to accumulate.
Fees for
public tertiary education will be removed over a three year
period under the policy, with a third of the fees being
removed each year. For example, a student paying $3000 a
year in fees will have them eliminated progressively by
$1000 a year.
All students would be paid a living
allowance at the level of the unemployment
benefit.
Interest on all student loans would be set at
zero. The tertiary loans scheme would continue to fund the
shortfall in fees and allowances until tertiary education
was made entirely free, and then be abolished. A full
independent enquiry will be held into existing and future
student loan debt and the social and economic consequences
of it.
The Alliance Partnership 2000 policy announced
in August committed to increased funding for
university-based research, including allowing universities
and other public sector research facilities to have access
to the Public Good Science Fund.
A Commission will be
appointed to address the future shape of the tertiary
sector, including quality issues and the role of
Polytechnics, colleges of education and private training
establishments.
Students' associations will regain
their universal mandatory status, and academic freedom
guaranteed. A small tertiary education staffing unit will be
set up within the Ministry of Education to provide a link
between the government's funding decisions and
implementation.
Dr Gordon said tertiary fees and the
student debt burden are endangering New Zealand's
future.
'Students now owe more than $3 billion on
their loans. It's driving our best and brightest overseas
and it's denying many young people a chance for higher
education.
'Last week the University of Auckland
published a study showing that the number of students from
poor schools going to university has dropped by 23%. Just 8%
of students enrolling in university in 1997 were from
schools ranked decile 1 to 3, the bottom level of schools.
The trend is the same at polytechnics.'
Jim Anderton
said New Zealand's future is dependent on investing in
higher education.
'Our future prosperity depends on
creating high-technology industries based on the skills and
knowledge of New Zealanders. We need to invest in higher
education and support our young people.'
He said UVT
would be a form of wealth tax. It is levied on the
unimproved-value of commercial land over $500,000 and
exempts land such as farms, residential homes, Crown land,
Maori customary land, and forest reserves,
'The
greatest period of expansion in commercial property in New
Zealand's history occurred in the mid-80s, when it was still
in force. It is a fair way to raise the money we need to
invest in New Zealand's future,' Jim Anderton
said.
ENDS
(note. earlier killed version moved with
incorrect
byline.)