Student fury to confront Maharey

massey-university-students-association

Fri May 23 2003 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Student fury to confront Maharey

Friday, 23 May 2003, 9:51 am
Press Release: Massey University Students Association

Furious students from Massey University and Ucol are conducting a mass protest at 4:30pm outside the Budget Accountability Meeting being held at Te Manawa. Steve Maharey, the Associate Minister of Tertiary Education, will be forced to answer to the outrage over Labour's move to allow tertiary student fees to increase dramatically.

Labour has turned its back on students by reneging on its election promise to make tertiary education affordable. Students feel betrayed and Labour should be ashamed, said Massey University Students Association (MUSA) president Andrea Grant.

Students are appalled, disgusted and shocked by Labour's abdication of their responsibility to students and the community to reduce fees. Student debt has reached $5.4 billion dollars and grows at $40,000 each hour. Labour's appalling decision will only see this accelerate.

There is no evidence to support the exclusion of postgraduate students from the fee maxima. The government appears to be making uneducated decisions, which will affect the lives of students and undermine the much-lauded 'Knowledge Society'.

Ninya Maubach, a postgraduate student seriously considering taking her studies to Australia, expressed her anger over the exclusion of postgraduate students from the fee maxima by stating; 'I'd make Steve Maharey suck an egg if I could afford one'.

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