The Tertiary Education Union has objected to the Government’s decision to introduce further cuts to student support.
It joined the New Zealand Union of Students’ Association (NZUSA) President Daniel Haines in its demand that Finance Minister Bill English should be ‘open about the Government’s intentions towards the underfunded sector.’
In a statement issued on May 14, 2014 soon after Mr English tabled his Budget proposals in Parliament, Mr Haines said that student support remained frozen, with the student loan repayment threshold flat lining.
Regressive Scheme
“Since 2012, any domestic student after earning above $19,084 (per annum) must make compulsory 12 cents in the dollar repayments on their student loan. This 12% repayment makes our student loan scheme the most regressive in the world. It compares unfavourably to our Australian neighbours. Their student loan repayment scheme starts at 4% after a graduate earns over $53,345, nearly three times ouu level,” he said.
According to him, freezing the repayment rate at a level below full-time minimum wage, the Government has imposed payments on people who have the least ability to pay.
“Student debt continues to grow, not least because since 2010 the Government has made over 20 cuts to student support, a disinvestment valued at over $70 million in the last three years,” Mr Haines said.
Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce had announced that the Government expects to save another $72.6 million over the next four years through ‘additional funding freed-up from reduced demand and suspension of inflation adjustments.’
Mr Haines said that as this become effective the Government would have cut $144.2 million, mostly because the cuts have locked potential students out from tertiary study.
Allowances hit
Documents obtained by NZUSA under the Official Information Act after a two-year battle and intervention by Ombudsman show that the Government has been considering drastic changes to student support, including a 40% cut to the number of weeks an allowance can be utilised.
TEU National Secretary Sharn Riggs said that student allowances are income-tested benefits for students of only the poorest families and have a limit of 200 weeks.
“The Government tightened rules in 2012 removing exceptions to this limit even for degrees of national importance. Proposals considered by Mr Joyce suggested slashing access even further, from five years to three years. It was a change that Social Development Ministry advised would further harm their efforts to move beneficiaries into study,” she said.
Government apathy
According to Ms Riggs, the same advice was given for the Government’s controversial cuts to student allowances for postgraduate students and those aged over 40, but was ignored in Budget 2012.
“The concerning details of what the Government has been considering has been slow in coming to the union after officials blocked requests for almost two years. NZUSA challenged that decision and received the documents only after an intervention by the ombudsman late last month,” she said.
Mr Haines said that the delay prevented debate on possible cuts.
“The Minister hid his ideas for two years, which was bad enough, but in the lead-up to the election in September, students, intending students, and their families deserve to know what a National government might do if it re-elected,” he said.
Ms Riggs agreed, saying that the Government should make its intentions public.
“The tertiary education sector has been under sustained pressure for six years, while all the time being kept in the dark by a Minister who refuses to talk about his plans for our staff and students,” she said.
“Democracy is about debating ideas and working to find solutions together, even with those you disagree. It should not be about top-down control and the silencing of dissenting voices. It is not good enough in a country like New Zealand,” she said.
