New Labour Party Education Policy – a tentative start

31 January 2016

New Labour Party Education Policy – a tentative start

QPEC welcomes Labour's Working Futures Plan to fund three years of free tertiary study as a step in the right direction.

But it greatly regrets that the policy won’t come fully into effect until the 2020s – that is, three to four elections away. Meanwhile current students will continue to rack up massive debt.

One further disadvantage is that it won't apply to students who have already studied past entry level.

Making tertiary education accessible is a direct investment in NZ's future – so study without fees is a net benefit to society.

Successive governments have enforced fees for tertiary education for decades – at great cost. They have become a crippling obstacle and burden for far too many students.

After 25 years of fees, the harm is easy to count: $15 billion of debt resting mainly on a single generation (with a second one coming up behind); those who have gone overseas now risking criminalisation when they return; and a low repayment threshold playing havoc with people’s lives as they struggle to make families, buy houses and save for the future while paying out large proportions of their largely stagnant wages on loan repayment.

Political parties have needed to find alternatives to the failed policy of student loans. We support free tertiary education and encourage Labour to expand its fledgling policy to include all students, with immediate effect on taking office.

ENDS

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