$7 billion question

DEBT MONSTER: A student-led campaign to scrap the loan scheme is unlikely to bear fruit.

The $7 billion question for New Zealand students is which political party will slay the debt monster and re-introduce a universal allowance for those entering tertiary study. That figure is the amount owed to the government loan scheme - and it could become a key issue in election year.

It is still some time before the main parties will release their election manifestos detailing their approaches to tertiary education. But the form guide says that the Students' Association-led campaign to scrap the loan scheme is unlikely to bear fruit.

The government has signalled there is likely to be some good news in this year's Budget, but a universal allowance as policy is highly unlikely. Aside from student debt, the tertiary sector is rife with issues - from foreign students to funding, from research priorities to trade training.

The figures make daunting reading. There are about 450,000 tertiary students at the country's 36 public and 249 private tertiary providers that receive Ministry of Education funding, or that enrol students in receipt of loans or allowances.

Any government must decide how best to cater for those students and how, to a large extent, those institutions are able to do business. At the top of its list, Labour includes working to develop a system of establishing maximum fees that institutions can charge. The party is also keen on shaping tertiary education to meet the needs of business and the community - something it has started to do with the Tertiary Education Strategy.

It will also continue to implement the Performance-Based Research Fund, which was introduced last year and funds tertiary institutes on the quality of their research, rather than the numbers of students they have.

The National Party has promised it would make assistance with students' living costs its highest priority. The party would look at restoring the Independence Allowance, instead of the allowance based on parental income.

National would also implement controls on the growth and quality of spending on tertiary education to clamp down on the massive growth in courses some see as low quality.

The Green Party is one that says it would eliminate student debt. Broadly, its policy is to remove "barriers to participation in tertiary education, be they financial, cultural or social''. The Greens would scrap the existing debt repayment scheme and institute a programme to write off student debt for all those who "contribute to our society''.

The party would also cap student fees with a view to phasing them out altogether. However, the party adds the rider that it would investigate whether conditions needed to be attached to the provision of fee-free education.

The Greens also believe tertiary funding should be prioritised to the public education sector (universities, polytechnics, wananga) and community-based providers, as opposed to private training enterprises.

The Act Party would disagree. It believes young people need greater freedom to achieve their potential and better incentives to remain in New Zealand after graduation. One of the main principles is that all students should have equal access to tertiary education and should be given equal support, whether they choose to study at a private or public institution.

There would also be little relief from Act on the loans issue. Students should contribute something towards the cost of their education, the party maintains, but it does at least say students should not be burdened with a debt which will take many years to repay.

Under Act's principles, student loans would be repaid more easily thanks to lower income taxes. It is likely a concessionary interest rate would be introduced for graduates who stayed and worked in New Zealand.

The theme of incentives for staying at home after graduation is also a part of New Zealand First's plans. It would particularly target the hard-hit medical students - who, according to a recent study graduate with an average $65,000 debt - by exploring the option of a `bonding' system for medical students who are willing to trade-off student loan abatements for staying in New Zealand.

The party also says it would take the first step towards a universal student allowance in its first year, and proceed over three years to full implementation.

United Future, similar to Labour, promises to review the access to allowances, while stopping short of a universal student allowance. Like some of its rival parties, it puts forward incentives for people who study in fields facing shortages and promise to work for a period of time in New Zealand.

The party would also allow students to reduce their debt if they worked for more than 100 hours as a volunteer for a registered charity.

The election enrolment campaign has begun and students warn that no party should discount their vote.

Andrew Kirton, co-president of the New Zealand University Students Association, says: "Political parties should not discount the student vote when setting policy in the lead up to the election, or the fact that students will vote based on policy that affects them.''