Government looks at easing vet students' loans burden

The Government is seeking ways to keep medical and veterinary students from going overseas immediately on graduation to pay off their student loans, says Tertiary Education Minister Steve Maharey.

The Government would consider costs to vet students in a broad-based tertiary education review paper due out in May, he said.

"Doctors and vets need some extra attention to stop them getting on a plane. We can't operate our economy if we don't have vets."

New Zealand has a shortage of large-animal vets, partly because new graduates go overseas to pay off their student debts.

The average loan debt for students completing the Bachelor of Veterinary Science course is $35,000.

Mr Maharey said a Veterinary Association submission to a parliamentary select committee in mid-2000 raised concern about graduate debt and the exodus of newly qualified vets.

Not much came out of this except a "pretty bland report".

"We were hoping they would come back with some recommendations, but they came back with none."

A recent Massey University survey showed that in the past two years graduating veterinary students have become saddled with 68 per cent more debt.

One Massey vet school graduate, Peter Aitken of Dunedin, said he was tempted to head overseas last year to pay off his $56,000 debt.

He works in a Palmerston North vet practice but said when several classmates moved overseas last year he was tempted to follow.

"When my loan statement came through after my third year I thought 'this is huge' and I must admit I thought 'What have I done? This is part of a house'."

Another problem for vets was the amount of time they spent fulfilling practical requirements, Mr Aitken said.

This reduced the opportunity for them to get paid work during holidays.

"It's about 28 weeks - nearly another year at university.

"The only way to cover that is to tack it on your loan."

Deep in debt

* The average loan for veterinary science students is $35,000.

* Overall, more than 314,000 people owe money to the student loan scheme - a little over 13 per cent of the working population.

* The average loan for students overall is $13,500

* Men take an average of 15 years to pay off a loan, women an average of 28 years.

- NZPA