The call was welcomed by the New
Zealand Union of Students' Associations, with Co-President Paul
Falloon saying, "This is brilliant news and will be welcomed by
hundreds of thousands of students who will no longer have to borrow
to live. Student debt has been having significant negative effects on
the New Zealand economy and society, so we congratulate Labour for
recognising this and delivering a sensible and fair policy that looks
to the future sustainability of the nation."
AuSM Jan Herman says, "I
believe Labour's pledge to provide all NZ uni students a universal
student allowance by 2012 to be one of the great stepping stones to
ensuring that all young people in this nation are provided with a
fair and decent education.
Also in student politics news, United
Future MP Peter Dunne stopped by The University of Auckland last
Tuesday to talk about his plans for zero fees and have a beer with
some students. His plan is to use the funding Labour has said they
will reserve for the universal student allowance and use it to pay
for fees for everyone, the cost difference of which is only $100m,
which may sound like a lot, he says, but when put in perspective it's
actually quite reasonable to cover university education for everyone.
Mr Dunne told debate, "I just wonder
whether in the longer term it would be better saying we have no fees
and the trade off would be a significant reduction in student
allowances. The level of debt would not increase if you did that and
said, for instance, that the current $150 a week in living costs
borrowing remained, you'd get people coming out of tertiary
education with a maximum debt of around, for a first degree,
$20,000."
Jan
Herman's said on the matter: "I think United Future's zero
fees policy can really help turn around our country's outrageous
$10 billion student debt issue. I am highly supportive of this policy
and any other policy that reduces student debt and still allows our
young people to get a good education."
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