29 April 2002

Green Tertiary Education Spokesperson Nandor Tanczos today said suggestions from Lockwood Smith that students should never pay off their student loans, and die in debt were arrogant nonsense.

"The architect of the student loans scheme is now saying basically that the whole mad experiment was a waste of time," said Nandor.

"This is just a joke. The guy got his PhD for free and then imposed the student loans scheme on New Zealand students. It is seriously rude to now tell them not to worry about it.

"The student debt is now over $5 billion. The reality is that some New Zealanders will die in debt after a lifetime of work because of the National Government's short sighted stupidity."

Nandor said high student loans with compounding interest were having a significant impact on New Zealand's people and economy.

"People are putting off starting businesses, having families and buying homes because they are saddled with growing debt. An Otago University student survey has found over half of Dunedin's bank officers had denied loan applicants finance because of their student loan.

"If Lockwood Smith thinks he can atone for his sins with this kind of rubbish he is seriously deluded."

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