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Student presidents protest frozen opportunity

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Fri Aug 14 2015 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Student presidents protest frozen opportunity

NZUSA - New Zealand Union of Students' Associations Friday, 14 August 2015, 3:31 pm
Press Release: NZUSA

Student presidents protest frozen opportunity

The presidents representing hundreds of thousands of students today converged on Parliament to protest the Government’s 25% cut to the number of students receiving allowances.

NZUSA President Rory McCourt

The presidents presented a solid block of ice with an academic cap in it to symbolise frozen opportunity in New Zealand.

NZUSA President Rory McCourt says the Government’s decision to freeze the parental income threshold had pushed the children of middle and low-income families

Grant Robertson addresses the crowd

“For the 6,000 students who stopped getting allowances in the last four years, they’re at least $2,000 a year worse off – most worse.”

Auckland University Students’ Association President Paul Smith says the change is a cold and heartless move. “A pay rise for mum and dad has become a pay cut for students.”

Green co-leader James Shaw

Massey University Student’s Association President Linsey Higgins says the mounting evidence of the impact of debt on graduate life choices meant parents and grandparents were starting to wonder at the sustainability of the loans scheme.

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“We’re leaving this here for Steven Joyce. He’s frozen opportunity. He needs to stop being so chill.”

Association of Students at UCOL Jessa McIntyre-Taylor says support for parents who are students needs to rise. She says too many were working to make ends meet. The NZUSA Income and Expenditure Survey shows average working hours rising from 12 to 14 hours per week over the last four years.

Byron Brooks, Albany Students’ Association President, says means testing allowances doesn’t take into account the variability of student and parental circumstances. He says the research behind the change was insufficient.

Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association Welfare Vice President Madeleine Ashton-Martyn says “the minister must recognize that these decisions have a very real and very tangible effect that freeze out young people from higher education”.

Shaw with the student association presidents

Rory McCourt
Photos by Francis Cook

ENDS

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NZUSA - New Zealand Union of Students' Associations

NZUSA - New Zealand Union of Students' Associations

We stand for opportunity, for all.

NZUSA is the New Zealand Union of Students' Associations, the national body that represents New Zealand's students' associations and the interests of New Zealand's 400,000 students at universities, polytechnics and in trades training.

We conduct original research, advocate to Government and through the media, and support New Zealand's students' associations to be more effective on behalf of their members. We advocate alongside Te Mana Akonga – The National Māori Students' Association, and Tertiary Women New Zealand – The NZUSA Women's Caucus.

Since 1929, we've believed in a society rich in opportunity, where anyone from anywhere can become any thing. We support accessible, affordable quality public tertiary education.

Contact NZUSA - New Zealand Union of Students' Associations