Tertiary Education Policy

Full Policy

Loan Repayment

• Support keeping the current zero interest scheme
• Ensure that repayment rates reflect borrowers’ ability to repay by adjusting the repayment thresholds to start at a higher income level, and introduce a progressive repayment scheme

Student Support

• Review levels of student support to ensure they are at an equitable and liveable level
• Work towards a universal student allowance by progressively reducing the age at which students cease to be means tested on their parents’ income and continue to raise the parental income threshold
• Reinstate access to the Student Allowance for those studying postgraduate courses

Fees

• Work towards a public ‘fee-free’ tertiary education system by capping and then progressively reducing student fees
• Review funding mechanisms to explore alternatives to EFTS funding
• Ensure Tertiary Institutions are adequately funded

Loan repayment

Student debt has reached crisis level and acts as a barrier to entering education for
many New Zealanders. In order to address the burden of debt as a result of the
student loan scheme, the Green Party will:

Debt Write Off

Explore options to introduce a debt write-off scheme that limits the individual
burden of debt, while incentivising graduates to contribute to New Zealand after
graduating.

Re-payment Options

• Ensure that repayment rates reflect borrowers’ ability to repay by adjusting the
  repayment thresholds to start at a higher income level, and introduce a
  progressive repayment scheme.
• Lengthen the repayment holiday for overseas borrowers to reflect the typical
  time spent by graduates overseas.
• Re-introduce a voluntary repayment bonus scheme.

Interest on Student Loans

• Support keeping the current zero-interest scheme.
• Review current funding to tertiary institutions to ensure that subsidies are
  sufficient to meet real costs and to provide sufficient funding to:
  a. Improve staff to student ratios;
  b. Improve library resources and staffing;
  c. Improve staff recruitment and retention
• Provide targeted funding for tertiary institutions to create an inclusive
  environment for students with disabilities by supporting disability support
  services and ensuring staff are trained to meet students’ needs.
• Ensure graduates with disabilities receive support and assistance to move from
  tertiary education into employment (see our Disability policy).

Student Fair Deal

Policy Summary

The Green Party will:

• Make all post-graduate students eligible for student allowances, as a step towards a truly universal student allowance.
• Increase all student allowances by 20 percent.
• Increase funding for tertiary institutions to make sure they are resourced to support students with disabilities.
• Restore the ability of students in long courses to access loans and allowances beyond seven years.
• As well as these Green Party promises, we support Labour’s three free years of tertiary education plan.
• This policy also includes raising the minimum wage to $17.75 and restoring the Training Incentive Allowance to help people on benefits gain new skills and qualifications.
• Improving student disability support services
  Students with disabilities face significant hurdles accessing tertiary education. Current Government funding for disability support in tertiary education is not adequate. The Green Party will increase equity funding fourfold,
  to $112 per equivalent full-time student with disabilities.
• Restoring access to loans and allowances
• People in long term courses like medicine, dentistry, and veterinary science help us build a
  world class health system and need support to complete their degrees. The Greens will
  restore access to student loans and allowances beyond seven years. We are committed to
  keeping all student loans interest free in the long term.