New Zealand Tertiary Education Polices

As part of preparation for an exercise for 139.177 (now 119.177), I did a review of the New Zealand Political Party Policies on tertiary education. Strangely, NZUSA didn't seem to have anything, and Google didn't pick anything else up, either, apart from really out of date pages.

Below is the brief summary (100 words or less per party) of the policies, in case they are of use to anyone else. Not many parties seem to have bothered to update their policies since the 2002 election, so they are a bit out of date - presumably they'll get freshened up next year.

Note that EFTS means Equivalent Full Time Students and is a funding measure (for tertiary institutions) used in New Zealand. Basically each full time student is one ETFS, and two half-time students are another EFTS. CPI is the Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation.

These are presented in alphabetical order of party name. This is for an exercise, so I have done everything I could to keep it free of bias; if you want my opinion, read my suggested policy and match it to the ones below.

ACT

Students should contribute something towards the cost of their education, but should not be burdened with a debt which will take many years to repay. ACT will encourage students to achieve their potential by modernising bursary awards and encouraging scholarships. Student loans will be repaid much more easily with ACT's lower income taxes, and there will be a concessionary interest rate for those graduates who stay and work in New Zealand. ACT will allow equal opportunity to apply for courses by abolishing racial quotas and allowing students to take their funding to any quality-approved course they choose.

Source: ACT website.

Greens

The Green Party will reduce the cost of tertiary education by immediately capping fees at $1500, then progressively phasing them out and reintroducing a universal student allowance. The Green Party will also write off student debt for all who stay in New Zealand, at the rate of one year's borrowings for each year worked here (paid or unpaid) - i.e. four year's work will write off debt accrued from a four year degree.

Source: Green website.

Labour

Our tertiary education system will be driven by, and rewarded for, excellence, relevance and access. Predictability has been restored to the cost of tuition, and the Labour led government has ended a decade of funding rate cuts under National, and has begun the process of reinvestment. The Student Loan Scheme has been made fairer by removing interest on student loans for full-time and other low-income students and by maintaining the student loan interest rate. Predicted Student Loan repayment times have reduced and the average amount of student loan debt has fallen for the first time since the Loan Scheme began.

Source: Labour website.

National

National will ensure adequate EFTS funding, ensure that sensible incentives for providers and students are built into course funding, and expand the number of EFTS categories, where the funding for a category will more closely reflect the true cost of that course. National will reward commitment to NZ by writing off 10% of the outstanding loan principal for five years, so long as the person stays and works in New Zealand. National will also increase the value of the A Bursary from $200 to $2000 and the B Bursary from $100 to $1000.

Source: policy.net.nz [No tertiary policy could be found on the National website].

New Zealand First

The key to our nation's economic and social future lies in education. New Zealand First will introduce a universal student allowance, while also increasing the proportion of the tertiary tuition subsidy to at least that of the 1998 budget. New Zealand First will introduce further scholarships to ensure that we keep our best students, and, via a system of fees abatement, will encourage graduates to provide a professional service for areas of New Zealand that suffer from a shortage of such services. Student loan interest will be set at CPI while studying, and CPI plus 2% afterwards.

Source: NZ First website.

Progressive

The Progressive Party will abolish fees for public tertiary education, initially by making the first year of study free with the opportunity to gain scholarships to continue studying. The Party will progressively abolish existing student loans by: reducing the interest rate on remaining student loans in real terms; raising the threshold for paying back loans so that low-income workers are not harshly penalised for doing tertiary study; and waiving loans in return for service in key regions or industries. The Progressive Party will also fund a student allowance to enable living costs to be met without having to borrow money.

Source: Progressive website.

United Future

We will not interfere in the setting of fees, but will increase core funding for tertiary institutions. United Future will abolish parental income testing of student allowances for students over 20 years and review the accommodation benefit. We will freeze student loan interest for parents for the first two years of their child's life and adjust parents' repayment threshold, to better reflect the extra costs of child-rearing. Allowance thresholds and loan interest will be limited to movements in the CPI. We will establish a scholarship system between tertiary providers and the private sector and raise the B and A Bursary.

Source: United Future website.

Last updated 27th October 2004.