Yet more info on loan scheme, still no action

Yet more info on loan scheme, still no action

Students are calling on Steve Maharey to spend less time on investigating the problems caused by the student loan scheme and more time on fixing them in response to his announcement today to spend an extra $572,000 to improve the information about the scheme.

"We support government getting better information on its policies," said Fleur Fitzsimons, Co-President of the New Zealand University Students' Association (NZUSA). "But we already know what the results of that information will be - that student debt is having a negative effect on our economy and society."

"The New Zealand public have been telling government for ten years about the disastrous effects of student debt, when will they start listening?".

"More money for considering the effect of debt will not mean new news. The news is all bad, debt discourages graduates from having babies and encourages them to take their skills overseas."

"Meanwhile, we are waiting for a student support review that has been promised since the beginning of last year. This review could actually offer some concrete improvements to student support, instead of more evidence that loans are bad."

"New Zealanders have already called the student loan scheme the biggest bungle of the 1990s, with Maharey's inaction it is becoming the biggest bungle of the new century" said Fitzsimons.

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