Government support for tertiary students

Tēnā koutou,

As the student leaders of Auckland University of Technology Students’ Association (AUTSA), we represent over 28,000 students from a diversity of backgrounds, cultures and fields of study. All of whom have been affected by the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, to one degree or another.

Firstly, we would like to acknowledge and thank the New Zealand government, and political leaders of all colours, for your leadership and message of unity and compassion in this difficult time. We truly are all in this together.

We would like to bring to your attention the concerns facing our students, relating to the financial support available. Whilst we are truly grateful for the increase in StudyLink funding in the Tertiary Student Support Package, we also acknowledge that this package is both a loan and insufficient.

StudyLink alone is rarely sufficient to cover a student’s living costs; many of our students would expect to take on part-time employment to help fund their studies. A result of the economic impact of Covid-19 is many of these employment options are no longer available.

For our domestic students the result is a harsh choice between continuing to struggle, incurring increased debt as a result, or discontinuing our studies and seeking the more generous benefits from WINZ. Our students from overseas face the cruel reality that there is no safety net for them.

Students from less advantaged backgrounds already find undertaking tertiary education to be a tough choice between financial security and further education. The pressure caused by this crisis, is serving to drive this group away from tertiary education.

Unfortunately, these socio-economic factors disproportionately affect our Māori and Pasifika students. At AUTSA we strongly believe that access to tertiary education is the path to greater equality and a more prosperous society for all.

Whilst we understand that many students may take a break in their studies, returning in future under a more favourable economic circumstance, tertiary education capacity is not unlimited. For every 100 students who defer now, there will be 100 less places for the next generation.

We are aware that the country subsidises the education costs for our domestic students, and as such it costs more to support us in education than support to us on WINZ. However, as a country we need to ensure that we have a skilled and educated workforce to lead us out of this time of crisis, we must take action now to avoid a future skills shortage.

There are many options available for Aotearoa to support our student community; from direct funding models such as the student grants previous generations benefited from; to supporting tertiary education providers current financial hardship funds.

As the current students of New Zealand, we ask you now to invest in the future. Supporting our diverse student community is supporting a diverse and equitable future for the country. We ask the Government to provide a prompt and easily accessed financial support package for tertiary students studying in New Zealand. This support package should:

• Not be in the form of a loan — the future of our nation should not be mortgaged against.
• Be supportive of our international students as well as domestic students — our strength lies in our diversity.
• Be equitable — education is the great equaliser, and must remain accessible to all, regardless of their socio-economic, cultural or geographic background.

As the students of today we implore you to enable us to grow into the leaders of tomorrow.