Still not too late to address the debt monster

Still not too late to address the debt monster.

Student debt has now reached $6 billion dollars.

“The government can still move now to turn the monster of debt from becoming an economic nightmare raging out of control to a manageable investment for the good of all New Zealanders.” said Andrew Kirton, Lincoln University Students’ Association President.

Student debt still increases by $40,000 per hour and will reach $20 billion by 2020. One in ten New Zealanders now has a student loan.

“The Government needs to take a much more intelligent and strategic view in order to tackle the debt monster, instead of the current policy of giving ‘carrots’ to students with meagre improvements like interest rate decreases and write-offs.” Kirton said.

Student debt was voted the biggest blunder of the 1990’s in 2000. The Labour Government’s current lack of direction and intelligence means the loan scheme and student debt will become the biggest blunder of this millennium.” Said Kirton. He said that there is still time for the government to address debt. The fact that New Zealand’s student debt is relatively young compared with other countries may be our “saving grace”, as we can benchmark our successes and failures and make improvements.

“It makes you wonder why the government is so eager to support unemployed people, but still will not assist people who are actually educating themselves and will be able to make a significant contribution to the nation than someone sitting at home on a benefit.” Said Andrew Kirton.

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