President's Column

Hi everyone,
Many of you will now have heard of Labour's policy to provide a universal student allowance to all NZ students by 2012. While many of you will have mixed reactions on this policy, the fact is this is great news for the future students of this country. Currently only 27% of NZ uni students have access to a "full student allowance". By Labour introducing a "universal student allowance", potentially up to 50,000 more students will benefit from it directly, and many more (such as parents, grandparents and other family members of students) will benefit indirectly by not seeing their young become burdened with debt. A universal student allowance is a key issue that fellow student politicians have been fighting for for many years now and this announcement will come as a sign of great victory after many years of hard work and dedication to the student cause.

Hi everyone
To continue on with my column from last week, the New Zealand General Election is now only 21 days away. This means only 21 more sleeps until the country could potentially have a dramatic change in the way that it is run, governed and laws are changed that will more than likely affect you in some way. I was listening to a discussion on Radio Live with Marcus Lush and the Communications Manager of the Electoral Commission last week and the statistics show that still today, less than 1 month away from the election, a "whopping 95,000 New Zealanders aged between 18 and 24 are still not yet enrolled to vote". This statistic is huge and quite alarming. How many young people between this age range that will actually vote on Election Day is also questionable.

Hi everyone, Some of you may be aware that your fees for 2009 have once again been increased. For the majority of courses taught throughout AUT, you will see a 5% increase in 2009 on the fees you paid this year. This equates to around a $200 per annum increase overall. Maybe enough to cover your weekly rent, 2 weeks supply of food or approximately 2 bungee jumps off the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Hi everyone, Only 4 issues of debate left to go for the remainder of 2008, and that means only a few more weeks till Uni is over and the summer holidays are upon us. Let's hope for some great weather which will allow us all to hit the beaches and camping grounds this summer.