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Home / New Zealand

Student debt hits Island women hardest

25 Jul, 2002 08:15 PM3 mins to read

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By DITA DE BONI education reporter

Pacific Island women suffer the most from student-debt burden and it discourages them from higher education, says the University Students Association.

The association, which this week organised a summit on the nation's $5.4 billion student-debt "crisis", says its surveys show that the scheme discriminates and
encourages "intergenerational debt", most markedly among Pacific Islanders but also among Maori students.

It calculates that under the present system, Pacific Island women will take an average 33 years to pay off debts from three-year degree courses.

By comparison, Pakeha women will take 22 years and Maori women 24.

Male Pacific Islanders will take 21 years, Maori men 16 and Pakeha men 15.

Pacific Islanders, who comprise 4.5 per cent of all tertiary students, borrow almost 85 per cent of their total course costs, and 76 per cent sign up for loans - the highest of any ethnic group.

The survey shows that Island women take the longest to repay the money because of lower-paying jobs and time out to have families.

They could end up paying more than twice the interest charged to Pakeha male graduates.

Malia Kiutau, 20, a Bachelor of Business Studies student at the Auckland University of Technology, said the system was "just not fair".

"I have six siblings and because my parents made just over the [$50,000] threshold combined I could not access an allowance and was forced to get a loan out myself to pay for the whole thing.

"If I'd known it would take people like me on average 33 years to pay the Government back, I may not have considered studying."



Efeso Collins, recruitment officer for the University of Auckland, said the problem was a combination of a huge pressure within Island communities for the younger generation to go to university, but also to share their money - even student loan money - with their parents, families and churches.

Young Island women were the first their parents called on for financial help.

The belief that parents who sent their children to university could afford to contribute more to local churches was a burden that was also passed on to the student taking out a loan, he said.

"We all support each other and anyone getting money, including through student loan, is expected to share it with others. Our obligations to our families are very, very strong."

Antonia LiLii, head girl at Marcellin College and a visitor to the debt summit in Auckland, said she still intended to start a commerce degree next year despite the debt spectre.

"But I'll try to avoid taking out a loan as much as I can."

Hinemarie Burton, Waikato University's women's rights officer, said some Maori female students such as herself were solo parents returning to higher education and running up debts they could barely pay off over a working life.

"Both enrolment rates and retention rates of Maori students at Waikato are down because people are unwilling to take on huge amounts of debt which will not be paid off by the time their children come round to racking up their own debt."

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