Less student debt, improved student well-being in first year of Fees-Free

September 9, 2019

James Ranstead talked about how the Government’s scheme has been getting on since it was introduced last year.

New Zealand Union of Students’ Association president James Ranstead has hit out at the National Party for saying the Government's Fees Free scheme was failing.

Figures released by the Ministry of Education show that 33 per cent of students who enjoyed the first year of the Fees-Free tertiary policy, which was introduced on January 1 last year, did not complete at least one of their courses - either failing or quitting it.

The statistics prompted the National Party to suggest that the number was so high because the students don't value the course they're not paying for.

But Mr Ranstead told TVNZ1's Breakfast today the drop-out rate had actually reduced from 2017.

He called the Opposition Parties insinuation "blatantly incorrect".

"Over the past couple of years, the Fees-Free debate has been really focused on details and the numbers around this specific policy," he said. "We really need to broaden out and have a wider discussion around tertiary education.

The students of Aotea College in Porirua erupted into applause as the PM told them of the plan.

"We need to start talking about the big issues such as student debt - nationally that's currently at $16 billion, we need to start tying this to the likes of student wellbeing, we need to actually start talking about the likes of future work and how we're going to be training our students for the future of work that's going to be very different from what we have today."

Since Fees-Free has come in there has been a reduction in the national student debt number for the first time in about 20 years, Mr Ranstead said.

"That is a huge win that we see, and that is a win that hasn't been talked about enough."

Fees-Free covers university students, polytechnic students and people going into apprenticeships.

"There are real benefits from having Fees-Free, putting the numbers to a side and how many people we're getting through, there's the likes of less student debt, improved student wellbeing, the future of work and so-fourth," Mr Ranstead said.

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