Free tertiary study: south shows how
If Southland can offer free tertiary education, why is it so expensive elsewhere? Julian Lee reports.
The Tamils in India and Sri Lanka have a saying – you can’t have a moustache and drink soup too.
Labour leader Andrew Little would understand. One of his big election promises this year is free tertiary education. His soup? A cost to the taxpayer of $1.2 billion.
But has Little considered that the Tamils don’t get it right all the time? Is it possible to drink at least some soup with a moustache?
Taxpayers already hand over plenty of cash to tertiary institutions. Last year the Tertiary Education Commission gave $2.8 billion – almost 4 per cent of the total Government budget – to universities and polytechnics across the land.
Only one tertiary institute uses that money to provide free education. The Southern Institute of Technology.
The only requirements are that students have to be New Zealand citizens or residents, attend class, pass a certain grade and pay for course materials.
SIT’s ‘‘Zero Fees’’ was launched in 2001 when chief executive Penny Simmonds realised that all the polytechnic needed was a cash injection to bring the student roll up to critical mass.
Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt stepped in and helped arrange a $7.2 million cash injection from the local community. SIT is in a unique position. It's in a region and a market where salaries are lower.
The zero fees programme has become completely self-sustaining, relying mostly on its annual government grant.
So why can’t the other 23 universities and polytechnics in New Zealand pull it off with the funding they get?
One of the main reasons seems to be a fairly simple one. The wages bill. SIT spends 43 per cent of its budget on staff while the others spend closer to 60 per cent.
Average staff wages at SIT are $61,878 compared to Auckland University’s $118,351. Meanwhile, the national median income for a New Zealander is $45,800.
The Sunday Star-Times contacted New Zealand’s eight universities and 18 polytechnics for comment. Most did not respond.
Executive director of Universities New Zealand Chris Whelan said it was practically impossible for universities to offer free education with the existing government grants.
One of the main reasons is that salaries and the costs of courses and research are higher at universities than at polytechnics.
Whelan explained it helps is located in Invercargill.
‘‘SIT is in a unique position. It’s in a region and a market where salaries are lower.
‘‘SIT’s funding reflects that most of its courses are classroom-based, subdegree qualifications with no that SIT research requirements. So they do not require a research-intensive teaching and learning environment.‘‘
Otago Polytechnic chief executive Phil Ker justified the higher costs there by claiming students received a high-quality service.
‘‘90 per cent of our students complete their qualifications and 98 per cent of our graduates are in work, study or both. We have an employer approval rating of 92 per cent and an overall student satisfaction rate of 93 per cent.’’
A spokeswoman for Northland Polytechnic said it would struggle to compete with SIT’s achievement.
‘‘SIT is in a unique position in that the community decided to do the zero fees.
‘‘That’s their own initiative clearly it has worked.’’ All figures are from 2015, the available. and latest