AREA 51 Accurate and Going Ahead
victoria-university-students-association
Wed Sep 29 1999 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
AREA 51 Accurate and Going Ahead
Wednesday, 29 September 1999, 6:19 pm
Press Release: Victoria University Students Association
Organisers of the "AREA 51" stunt at Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association are pleased that Minister of Tertiary Education Max Bradford has helped out with the publicity for their action tomorrow. They believe the campaign will be more successful and stronger with Max Bradford's ill-informed comments regarding the validity of their data.
"AREA 51" is intended to raise public awareness of the length of time it will take a women on an average women's wage to pay back a student loan of $20,000. At present the average level of student loans is around $10,000 although that includes many borrowers who have only recently entered tertiary study and the figure for graduates is closer to the $20,000 mark.
"The Minister's endlessly flawed press release has given tomorrow's campaign more impetus and we look forward to making our very accurate statement heard" said VUWSA Campaigns Officer Yadana Saw.
"The obvious lack of analysis in Mr. Bradford's release clearly illustrates how out of touch he is with the current state of tertiary education,"
However Saw was not surprised that the Minister did not appear to comprehend the issues as there was a real lack of quality analysis of the loan scheme available. "NZUSA and APSU are the only organisations that give us some projection of the future regarding students loans, with or without the token solutions the government throws at us. No other organisation performs any research on the effects of student loans," Saw said.
Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
"Mr. Bradford and the National government have attempted to discredit us, once again we must ask why? The statistics clearly show the huge disparity between men and women with student loans, even the most avid National party supporters should have grave fears for their daughters futures," Yadana Saw said. "After all. 'the truth is out there' as they say".
Tomorrow's action will begin at 1pm and continue until 3pm in the Victoria University Quad.
Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
a.supporter:hover {background:#EC4438!important;} @media screen and (max-width: 480px) { #byline-block div.byline-block {padding-right:16px;}}
Using Scoop for work?
Scoop is free for personal use, but you’ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro features.
Join Pro Individual Find out more
Find more from Victoria University Students Association on InfoPages.