Flat Fees the Answer to $130,000 Student Debt

The AUT Students’ Association President Michael Heard is calling on all tertiary institutions to put an end to differential fee structures in the wake of staggering figures on student debt released earlier today.

Figures released by the Minister of Finance Michael Cullen put the largest single student loan debt at between $130,000 and $140,000. This student is most likely to have come from a course such as dentistry at an institution where the council has decided to charge extreme user pays fees.

“The move to differential fees is now proving to have been extremely short sighted and appers to have been done without conscience,” said Mr Heard

“The fact that it is even possible for a single student to owe the government this amount of money is abhorrent” Said Michael Heard

“I welcome the historical commitment AUT has had to a single flat fee for all its students. AUT students and their families can take some comfort in the knowledge that while some debt is regrettably inevitable, debt of this magnitude is virtually impossible while studying there”

“I call on AUT to continue their commitment to maintain flat fees and on all tertiary providers to give their students a similar commitment,” concluded Michael Heard

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Michael Heard
President
Auckland Student Movement @AUT
Ph 307 9999 x 8571
Mobile 021 392-079

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