Policy highlights: Student loans

Labour
* Abolish interest on student loans for people who stay in

New Zealand (including those not working).

* Increase parental income thresholds so at least half of all

fulltime students receive a student allowance.

National
* Make all net interest payments on student loans tax

deductible against earned income.

United Future
* Reduce parental income testing for student allowance

eligibility and ensure that students are given equal

treatment to young people on the dole.

*Freeze interest on student loans and write off a portion of

the debt of parents for two years after the birth of a child.

* Establish scholarships and loan write-off schemes for

those who are qualified in fields facing shortages (e.g.

doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers), in return for

working in New Zealand.

* Allow students to reduce their debt if they work for more

than 100 hours as a volunteer for a registered charity (up

to a maximum of $500 per annum).

New Zealand First
* Set interest rates on student loans at consumer price

index (CPI) plus 2 per cent.

* Set interest while a student is studying at the rate of

equal to the CPI.

* Introduce a universal student allowance within three years.

Increase the proportion of the tertiary tuition subsidy to at

least that of the 1998 budget, in real terms.

Act
* Restructure student allowances so they are funded

on academic merit.

* Assist graduates to pay back student loans by cutting taxes.

Progressives

Progressives
* Work towards a free tertiary education system.

* For every year that a graduate works in New Zealand the

Government would meet his or her minimum student loan

repayments, for at least three years.

* Increase access to student allowances.

Greens
* Wipe a year's worth of debt for each year a graduate stays

in New Zealand and contributes through paid or unpaid

full time work.

* Adjust repayment thresholds to start at a higher income

level and introduce higher income bands that attract a

higher rate of repayment.

* Suspend all interest for people on low incomes and for

primary caregivers.

* Apply zero real rate of interest to student loans (i.e. rate of

consumer price index only)

* Establish a universal student allowance for all full-time

students and raise the accommodation allowance.

* Cap and reduce student fees.

Maori Party
* Universal living allowances.

* Graduates would not have to start making repayments on

their loan until they had finished studying for five years.

* Loan interest would be waived and income thresholds

would be set at 50 per cent higher than the average.