Students Welcome Promise Of Relief

The APSU Student Union today applauded the Alliance's announcement that they will take affirmative action to address the student debt burden.

"It is time that Aotearoa New Zealand took this situation very seriously," said President John Barkess today. "Already we have a generation in debt with little hope of getting ahead when they join the workforce. To let this continue is immoral."

The Alliance are prepared:

¨ to lower the interest on student debt;

¨ to revise the repayment threshold;

¨ to provide incentives for early repayment;

¨ to investigate writing off some of the current debt to allow our trained people to return to their homeland;

¨ to recognise the importance of family in our society.

"Jenny Shipley continually states that students only pay for one quarter of the cost of education, I would like to suggest that Ms. Shipley has failed to factor into the equation the social cost of having a huge debt. Ms. Shipley has failed to factor into the equation the fact that students are the only group in society that have to borrow in order to buy food and rent a room. Ms. Shipley should perhaps investigate the effects on students of having a huge debt after graduation."

"The Alliance have shown with their policy that they are aware of the social cost of student debt. They have shown that they do care about the intellectual capital of our country and they have shown they are prepared to tackle an issue National have effectively side-stepped for the last nine years."

The APSU Student Union looks forward to participating in the public enquiry into the impact of student debt on the social structure of our society.

ENDS

© Scoop Media