875 rural students receive more than $3 million in boarding fee support from Government

More than $3.2 million from the Access Barrier Allowance went towards 875 students last year. Photo / Peter de Graaf

The Government spent over 30% more last year than in 2023 providing financial support towards boarding fees for rural students.

New Ministry of Education data show $3,242,035 was paid out for 875 students under the Access Barrier Allowance last year.

That’s up from $2,431,144 for 792 students in 2023.

The contribution is for secondary students who live too far away from their nearest state or state-integrated school to reasonably be able to travel there daily.

They may live at boarding hostels, or board in a private home.

Students from Rēkohu / the Chatham Islands are eligible for $6300, while those on Aotea Great Barrier Island and Stewart Island / Rakiura get $4500.

Those from all other locations qualify for $4000.

Recent increases to these rates have contributed to the spike in the overall sum.

The rates had sat at $3200 for all areas between 2014 and 2022 – before lifts in 2023 and 2024.

But there is a call for those rates to go up further.

Federated Farmers Rural Education spokesman Toby Williams is welcoming the boost for families and students.

“We’re finding that rural students are getting more and more isolated and it’s getting harder and harder for them to get education.

“And we saw through Covid, the rapid increases of costs for everybody across all sorts of transport as well as our everyday living ... the increases have helped to smooth that curve a little bit for those families who do access it.”

Williams said the allowance definitely helps with boarding fees – which can stretch into the tens of thousands.

“It’s a hand-up as opposed to a handout, and it helps to eliminate some of those barriers,” he said.

“But you know, for some of these more far-flung areas it’s still quite a significant barrier.”

“We would like to see it increased further, especially as we’re seeing that there’s [a] lack of rural buses and things like that for some kids and suddenly they’ve got much more of a barrier of getting to school.”

Of the 875 students who qualified for funding last year, almost a third were from Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne/Tairāwhiti.

Williams said it’s quite a big area, as it includes the East Cape.

“It’s just probably more reflection as well where the sheep and beef farms are.

“There tends to be more sheep and beef farmers that are accessing this than, say, a dairy farmer.

“If we use the Waikato or Canterbury [regions] as an example, dairy farming is a lot smaller-scale in terms of land area but quite intensive in terms of the staffing requirements across that land area.

“You’ll see that those townships are actually better serviced in terms of education than say more extensive sheep and beef country.”

Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on education, social issues and general news. Cunningham joined Newstalk ZB in 2023, after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star.