..students are New Zealand’s future………
We had a wonderful time at Otago University today. It is a great, historic institution and the several hundred students encountered were intelligent, honest and just a little bit cheeky!
We had several messages for the students today. However, the main one was about the student allowance system. The current system is in desperate need of repair.
Government figures show that while the number of students enrolled in tertiary study has increased, the number receiving a student allowance has actually fallen. Fewer than 60,000 full time students received an allowance in 2006. There will be an estimated 240,000 full time tertiary students next year.New Zealand First policy on this matter is simple. There should be a universal student allowance.
Current allowances range from $66.53 to $306.92 a week depending on a range of factors including age, marital status, number of dependents, whether a student lives at home, or whether they have part-time employment.
The government’s own numbers show that extending allowances to all eligible students would cost $728 million per year. That is serious money, but the cause is also a serious and worthwhile one. We need a skilled workforce. New Zealand First believes that education spending is not an expense but an investment in the future.
A universal student allowance would encourage more students into tertiary education. It would reduce the dependence on loans and the cycle of huge debt that many of our graduates face, especially those who seek the highest qualifications or choose careers in areas such as medicine.
It would also lower the number of talented young New Zealanders afraid to return home from overseas because of the loan debt waiting for them. We understand that many young people want to go overseas to further their studies, or taste life in other countries, but we also want those people to come home and help rebuild the country that their grandparents knew.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
What a pity our reporters and and commentators have not spent enough time in the education system to learn how to comprehend what is going on around them and to report what is said and done accurately. I well remember listening to you Winston at Rotorua when you were answering questions from such as Barry Soaper and others about who New Zealand First would go into coalition with after the election, one of your replies included “we will not go into coalition JUST for the baubles of power”. boy did they go for that! they left out the word JUST and are still screaming “he said he wouldn’t take the baubles of power and look at him , he lied” you will have to vet all your speeches this time.
September 25th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
I still would like to draw attention to the security appeal to young people through allocating the NZ Super Fund to Personal Accounts as a permanent institution,to extend the better super sustainability purpose of the NZ Super Fund beyond the baby boomer generation - not to speak of other advantges revealed when debating and explaining NZSF Personal Accounts compared with the NZSF as at present.