Government inaction deepens student debt crisis

The Greens are joining the call of Victoria university students protesting the Government’s failure to deliver on their promise of increased access to student allowances. The Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association and the Education Action Group are building a cardboard Box City at the University Quad from midday today to highlight the issue.

“The Government is fiddling around the edges of the student allowance issue, and have consistently failed to fix the underlying inequity of the current policy,” Green Party Education Spokesperson Metiria Turei says.

“The system is unfair and unworkable - requiring a parental means test up until the age of 25 has always been a farce. The fact that only a third of students can access a student allowance proves that the policy is premised on keeping costs down, not on a sensible student support policy. The Government needs to urgently honour its promise to students.

“There is no justification for students being the only group in society forced to borrow simply to live. Universal student allowances must be restored if we are to deal with the ramifications of a generation growing up in debt: the loss of our graduates to overseas jobs to allay their debt levels, the inability to get into the housing market, and the forced delay starting families,” Mrs Turei says.