UnitedFuture's concerns over recent education changes

Hear UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne on Morning Report

 

Dunne: bill will reduce overall student loan debt

Revenue Minister Peter Dunne says legislation passed by Parliament last night will make it easier for the Government to manage and reduce the overall size of student loan debt by making borrowers more accountable for repaying their loans. 

“This in turn will make the scheme fairer for the vast majority of borrowers who do honour their loan obligations and for taxpayers more generally,” Mr Dunne said.

The changes introduced in the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill to improve the rate of repayments by borrowers include:

• reducing the repayment holiday for borrowers who go overseas from three years to one year, and requiring them to apply for the repayment holiday and provide a contact person at the same time;

• removing the ability for New Zealand-based borrowers to offset losses against their income to reduce their liability for student loan purposes; and

• ensuring that Inland Revenue receives from StudyLink details of a borrower’s alternative contact person.  Borrowers must now provide this information when applying for a loan.

“New Zealand’s student loan scheme is a generous one but one that comes at a considerable cost for taxpayers.  It is important that the Government takes all necessary steps to improve the value, efficiency and fairness of the scheme,” Mr Dunne said.

“The new rules are a reminder to borrowers that a student loan is subject to the same responsibilities and obligations as any other substantial financial loan assistance – that is, it is a loan and it must be repaid.”

Dunne: Get business backing for laptops for schoolchildren

The Ministry of Education should build partnerships with businesses to supply schoolchildren with laptops that many parents cannot afford, UnitedFuture leader and Ohariu MP Peter Dunne said today.

 “Laptops and Ipads are increasingly not just accessories, but essential tools of learning for our children, Mr Dunne said.

 “Schools and parents know that not having them will increasingly mean children falling on the wrong side of a digital and learning divide, but parents’ hearts must sink when they are battling to pay school fees, uniforms and stationery for the year ahead. Now laptops?

 “It is simply too expensive for many families and we need to find ways to make such important learning tools accessible to all children, but particularly those who are less well off,” he said.

 “I think there is a really good opportunity here for the business sector to help out as good corporate citizens.

 “The vast majority of schools would clearly struggle to provide laptops for students with the funding they have – and with the Government borrowing $300 million a week, people understand that there is no bottomless pit of money.

 “As a country, we need to work smart and think smart – and we want our children to do the same.

 “We need to increasingly look at public-private partnerships in areas such as providing transport infrastructure and in health by utilising the capacity of private hospitals to cut surgical waiting lists, so let’s look at the technology needs of our children and how they can be best served,” Mr Dunne said.

Zero-fees policy ‘helps more people, improves education quality’

UnitedFuture’s ‘zero-fees’ policy is a fairer, more effective solution to the student debt problem than Labour's universal student allowance as it also addresses the quality of education, according to leader Peter Dunne who spoke to students at Auckland University today.

“International university rankings released today show that our top universities are slipping down the list. They need a funding commitment from Government to reverse this trend ,” says Mr Dunne.

“Australia has 6 universities ranked in the top 50 in the world. We don’t have any. We have only one in the top 100 and two others in the top 200 – we can and need to do better,” says Mr Dunne.

“UnitedFuture would abolish all tertiary education fees, as well as commit to properly funding our institutions themselves. This will increase access to education and deal with student debt, as well as improving the value of New Zealand degrees.

“A limitation with universal student allowances is that they only help full-time students, part-time students are no better off, while allowances also do nothing to address the quality of education.”

Mr Dunne points out that in the long term, tuition fees are increasing at a rate faster than the cost of living.

“The funding is already there for zero-fees tuition – the cost falls within that for Labour’s Universal Allowance pledge, but it benefits more people and achieves better education,” he said.