Massive Student Loan Repayment Times

Massive Student Loan Repayment Times For Nurses, Teachers, & Doctors

Nurses will take 23 years to pay off their student loans, GPs will take 20.2 years and secondary teachers will take 16.3 years according to Ministry of Education calculations released by the New Zealand University Students Association (NZUSA).

“Some of our most valued professionals will be shackled by debt for most of their working lives,” said NZUSA Co-President Andrew Campbell. “The actions taken by the government so far to alleviate the student debt problem are not enough. With repayment times like this, more and more of our nurses, teachers and doctors will be looking to go overseas to work.”

The Ministry of Education data is based on maximum borrowing, but it does not take into account the years that women take out of the workforce in order to raise children.

“The vast majority of nurses and teachers are women,” said Campbell. “By not acknowledging that most women spend some years caring for children, the Ministry of Education grossly underestimates repayment times – as well as ignoring the way that student loans are much worse for the women of New Zealand. When are our government and their officials going to realise that women are taking twice as long as men to repay their student loans?”

NZUSA will be looking at the impact of student loans on recruitment, retention and industrial relations at their Workforce Issues Debt Summit, this Friday July 6 at the Christchurch College of Education. NZUSA is jointly hosting the Debt Summit with Minister of Youth Affairs, Laila Harre.

“We will be releasing our own research at the debt summit on the effect of student loans on primary teachers,” said Andrew Campbell. “Student debt of over $4 billion will have disastrous effects on the New Zealand workplace in the years to come.”

ENDS

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