Interest Free Student Loans

I've always thought the Student Loan scheme was a fair plan to help students gain qualifications without burdening the rest of New Zealand with those costs. Those genuinely in need of assistance to go to university were still able to get allowances.

Now tertiary students are intelligent people, and being young rather idealistic. Some have run a well organised, vocal, lobby group who have sucessfully made themselves visible enough to roll back some of the costs of tertiary education that they recieved under the Richardson 'user pays' model of the early 1990s.

But these (usually Lefty) Uni Students are easily the greediest people in NZ. They want free education and a regular allowance payment. Once they are qualified they will still bugger off overseas because salaries in London/Sydney/New York are much higher. Probably more likely given the higher taxes required to sustain the 'free' education and allowances.

I think this quote says it best: "There's a hell of a lot of people your age who don't go to university paying for you to go." From Labour Minister Phil Goff, who lost his cool at student protesters who blocked his car in at Victoria Uni forcing him to walk back to Parliament, circa 1989.