Students support tertiary policies
Manawatu student leaders and educators have backed Labour’s tertiary education policy, saying it will help more people keep learning and take stress off those who already are.
The party announced on Tuesday that, if elected, it would deliver the first year of three years free post-secondary school education from 2018 – a year earlier than it previously planned to deliver the policy.
It would also boost student allowances and living cost loans by $50 per week. The party wants to phase in three years of free postschool education by 2024, but would bring it on faster if conditions allowed.
Massey University Students’ Association president Nikita Skipper said it was great to hear Labour planned to bring in the first year of free training earlier.
Students she had talked to on campus in the wake of the announcement were supportive, Skipper said.
While the focus on living costs had been on rising rents in big cities like Auckland and Wellington, Palmerston North students would also appreciate the increase.
The city had a large maturestudent population, Skipper said.
‘‘It is a benefit for them to be able to pay for kids to go for another day at preschool, or for their kids to go on school camp.’’
It had been a long time since students had been central to an election campaign, but student associations across the country had noticed more political engagement from parties, Skipper said.
Queen Elizabeth College principal Chris Moller said financial pressure was a barrier for those thinking about what to do after school, those from low-income families and those facing house prices rising to new highs.
‘‘When [my generation] went through, [university] cost nothing and it was a really good option.
‘‘Even then we moaned and groaned about not having any money, but we never got into debt.’’
He wanted to see more investment in young people and education from whoever was in government after the election.
Awatapu College principal Gary Yeatman said anything encouraging students to further their education was a good thing.
However, both schools and the wider community needed to remember that not all students wanted to go to university.
New Zealand Union of Students’ Association president Jonathan Gee said increasing loan borrowing would still leave graduates with significant debt.
‘‘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,’’ he said.