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Students welcome Labour’s tertiary education announcement
29 August 2017
Students welcome Labour’s tertiary
education announcement
The New Zealand Union of
Students’ Associations (NZUSA) has welcomed the Labour
Party’s announcement today that they will accelerate their
three-years’ free tertiary education policy and lift
student support.
National President Jonathan Gee says,
’tertiary education should be a right for all, not a
privilege for the few. Making tertiary-study more affordable
for students, and their families, means that New Zealanders
from lower socio-economic backgrounds are one step closer to
experiencing the transformative power of
education.’
Gee says that while Labour’s original
announcement in 2016 was a step in the right direction, its
long implementation period did not give students
reassurance.
‘The original policy was a distant idea
of ‘the right thing to do’, but did not completely
satisfy students and their families who are considering
tertiary study but fear the squeeze of high tuition fees and
rising rents.’
The announcement addresses three
recommendations made by NZUSA in its Income and Expenditure
Report 2017 and Budget 2017 wishlist; namely restoring
postgraduate allowances, restoring national significance
exceptions on allowances for courses such as medicine, and
addressing the rising cost of living.
‘Students are
telling us that they barely have enough to live on. Even
with a part-time job students are struggling, and are forced
to focus on economic survival rather than academic success.
An extra $50 in allowances will be of great assistance to
these students.’
However, Gee suggests that more
still needs to be done to improve the accessibility of
tertiary study, and lifting the maximum that can be borrowed
for living costs is only a short-term solution. Instead,
NZUSA recommends increasing access to the student allowance
(the money you don’t have to pay back), which currently
only 33% of students are eligible for since the current
Government froze the parental income threshold eligibility
five years ago.
‘Increasing student loan borrowing
might be a short-term solution to meeting basic needs, but
it still leaves graduates with a significant amount of debt
in the long-term. As student loan debt reaches $16 billion,
students and graduates are crying out for relief of this
debt burden.’
‘What we also need is greater access
to the student allowance, so that tertiary-study becomes a
way out of poverty, not a way into it.’
Free tertiary education is not an alien concept.
‘Let’s
not forget that free tertiary education is a reality for
students in countries like Germany, Scotland, Norway, and
even parts of the United States. The majority of MPs in the
most recent parliamentary term also supported some form of
free tertiary-study. It is something within our
reach.’
Gee says that this is not the end of the
conversation about student support, and that a
whole-of-sector approach is needed to remove all barriers to
tertiary education.
‘For this to work we also need
professional, consistent and high quality careers education
in the compulsory sector so students from decile 1 schools
are given the same options as those in decile 10 schools. We
also must remember that tertiary education is not just
university, but includes polytechnics, wānanga, trades and
apprenticeships.’
‘We look forward to engaging
with the next government, of whatever shape, to work towards
a barrier-free education for all.’
NZUSA is the
national voice of students in tertiary education. The
organisation is governed by students’ associations from
universities and polytechnics around the
country.
ENDS
NZUSA - New Zealand Union of Students' Associations
We stand for opportunity, for all.
NZUSA is the New Zealand Union of Students' Associations, the national body that represents New Zealand's students' associations and the interests of New Zealand's 400,000 students at universities, polytechnics and in trades training.
We conduct original research, advocate to Government and through the media, and support New Zealand's students' associations to be more effective on behalf of their members. We advocate alongside Te Mana Akonga – The National Māori Students' Association, and Tertiary Women New Zealand – The NZUSA Women's Caucus.
Since 1929, we've believed in a society rich in opportunity, where anyone from anywhere can become any thing. We support accessible, affordable quality public tertiary education.
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