Study allowance for over 40's

The change to study allowance for students over 40 has come at a bad time and will lock single parents in poverty that chose to work their way up ladders through promotion once they left school. Many if not most of these parents have never filled out a form for government handout and don’t mind paying back a student loan. They are not considering taking their talents overseas and intend to contribute tax to New Zealand till the day of their retirement.

They have the needed experience in their chosen industries yet not the paperwork and that’s why many have chosen to obtain qualifications while in between jobs. They’ve been the ones to suffer job-loss as business favours less experienced employees with no less than a degree.

They realise their chances of competing without qualifications are slim to zero and will be forced to start from the bottom all over again if they don’t catch up with change, yet this time they will be overlooked for promotion because of their age.

With 200 weeks of student allowance available, single parents are cramming full time study while raising the next generation of children as good role models. Cutting them off at 120 weeks puts them in an impossible situation for full time study to obtain qualifications at their level of experience requires minimum 3 – 4 years. They cannot compete at their age with a diploma or less.

They would not be a liability on government spending if it wasn’t for the recession and since they’ve paid taxes for the past 20 plus years and intend to pay more tax for the higher wages they’ve worked hard for, it doesn’t make sense to take opportunity away from them.

They are worth investing in while 40 years of age is not old. They did life exactly how society expected them too, and yet today they feel they are being punished for it. Perhaps, in hindsight, they should have quit their jobs and spent 3 -4 years studying while on the DPB like MP Paula Bennett.

Life doesn’t end at 40.
ends

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