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Cool change: Student presidents protest frozen allowances
Cool change: Student presidents protest frozen allowances
14 August 2015
Media Release: New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations
The presidents representing hundreds of thousands of students today converged on Parliament with a solid block of ice containing a graduation cap to protest the Government's freezing of the student allowance parental income threshold, cutting the number of Kiwi families eligible.
The student presidents say the freeze has caused a 25% drop in the number of students receiving allowances over the last four years.
NZUSA President Rory McCourt says the Government’s decision to freeze the parental income threshold, renewed in Budget 2015 for a further four years, had pushed the children of middle and low-income families onto a crushing debt path, with almost all borrowing week to week just to pay the bills.
“For the 6,000 students who were kicked off allowances in the last four years, they’re at least $2,000 a year worse off – most much more.”
Mr McCourt says allowances were supposed to be for all but the richest students. The Government's freeze on the threshold was taking allowances away from middle New Zealand through what he calls "sneaky bracket creep. People don't realise what's been taking from them until their kid has a 50k debt and no way of buying a house".
The NZUSA Income and Expenditure Survey, released just this week, showed a full 70 per cent of students believed their student debt would impact on their ability to buy a home.
"National used to be ambitious for New Zealand. Now they're just ambitious for our debt."
Auckland University Students’ Association President Paul Smith says the change is a cold and heartless move. “A pay rise for mum and dad has become a pay cut for students.”
Massey University Student’s Association President Linsey Higgins says the mounting evidence of the impact of debt on graduate life choices meant parents and grandparents were starting to wonder at the sustainability of the loans scheme.
“Student debt needs reaches 15 billion dollars next year. He needs to stop being so chill about these issues.”
Association of Students at UCOL Jessa McIntyre-Taylor says support for parents who are students needs to rise. She says too many were working to make ends meet. The NZUSA Income and Expenditure Survey shows average working hours rising from 12 to 14 hours per week over the last four years.
Byron Brooks, Albany Students’ Association President, says means testing allowances doesn’t take into account the variability of student and parental circumstances. He says the research behind the change was insufficient. In Budget papers the officials admitted they were unsure of the full impact of all the cuts the Government planned for allowances.
Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association Welfare Vice President Madeleine Ashton-Martyn says “the Minister must recognise that these decisions have a very real and very tangible effect that freeze out young people from higher education”.
The presidents were greeted by Labour's finance spokesperson Grant Robertson and Green Co-Leader James Shaw, who both said that university and polytechnic was becoming unaffordable for New Zealand families. NZ First's Tracey Martin, who was represented by her office, was thanked by the student unions for her "tireless advocacy" on behalf of students.
The event follows the launch of the NZUSA Income and Expenditure Survey earlier this week, which details the impact Government cuts were having on students in what the union calls "a crisis in the New Zealand student experience."
ENDS
NZUSA - New Zealand Union of Students' Associations
We stand for opportunity, for all.
NZUSA is the New Zealand Union of Students' Associations, the national body that represents New Zealand's students' associations and the interests of New Zealand's 400,000 students at universities, polytechnics and in trades training.
We conduct original research, advocate to Government and through the media, and support New Zealand's students' associations to be more effective on behalf of their members. We advocate alongside Te Mana Akonga – The National Māori Students' Association, and Tertiary Women New Zealand – The NZUSA Women's Caucus.
Since 1929, we've believed in a society rich in opportunity, where anyone from anywhere can become any thing. We support accessible, affordable quality public tertiary education.
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