Government Locking Rural Kids Out of Universities

Government Locking Rural Kids Out of Universities

26 APRIL 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Students with rural backgrounds are being prevented from attending university as a result of the current loan living costs scheme, especially from the only two institutes that offer medicine qualifications, says the Aotearoa Students’ Alliance.

“At present, the Government only offers $178.81 per week as a loan to cover ‘day-to-day expenses’, despite hall of residence accommodation for first year students ranging between $350 and $370 per week”, says Jack Close, spokesperson for the Aotearoa Students’ Alliance. “That means students who do not live within a commutable range of the university must stump up at least $171 a week – an extra $6,500 in total. For many families that live outside urban centres, this simply is not possible.”

“What makes this even worse is the University of Otago and the University of Auckland are the only two institutes that offer medicine qualifications, with Otago the only institute that offers dentistry. Any budding doctor or dentist outside of Auckland or Dunedin, without wealthy parents, is denied the opportunity by the Government.”

“The claims that Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Paul Goldsmith makes that we have one of the most generous student loan schemes in the world is nonsense. What we have is an inequitable, inaccessible system set up to benefit wealthy families inside urban centres.”

“It comes as no surprise that this Government ignores prospective students from the regions, after a nine-year campaign of city-centric policy aimed at bolstering votes – not the welfare of young people.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media