Budget 2003 a disappointment for students

Budget 2003 a disappointment for students

Students are appalled by the omissions from the budget of any meaningful allocations to relieve the burden of debt that many students face.

‘This year student debt is sitting over $5 Billion and students are paying higher course fees than ever before. There was an expectation that the fee maxima would increase access to tertiary education but this will ensure that fewer low socio economic groups will be able to attend University’ said Victoria University Students’ Association President Catherine Belfield-Haines.

‘Post graduate students are not even covered under the fee maxima which will lead to a situation of students based on their ability to pay rather than their academic ability’ says Belfield-Haines.

‘Already students at Victoria University have been using the food bank in record numbers this year and work more than other students within New Zealand to pay their rents and University fees’ continued Belfield-Haines.

Students around the country are signing a petition to demand that the government introduce a universal living wage for students at the level of the unemployment benefit.

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