Another free lunch

[MotoGirl]

So, how many of these students are going to use it to reduce their debt? I'm picking that it won't be many so the whole scheme is just a waste of money.

This will be an easy ride for serial academics who'll never stop studying and actually work.

[riffer]

Giving them handouts achieves nothing.

I disagree. It achieves more votes for Labour.

But just wait - if Labour do get in again due to the lollies they're handing out, what's going to be the first thing to go - the tax cuts.

EVERY party in this election has a hidden agenda.

[trustme]

The tax cuts wont go but all sorts of new indirect taxes will be introduced to claw money back, it has already started, AK fuel surcharge, carbon credit/ emmision trading tax that no none understands

[davereid]

...The issue is how much of the cost should fall on the shoulders of those who benefit directly from the gaining of education, and how much should be funded by taxpayers. Clearly there is benefit to taxpayers from people becoming educated (other than themselves), so there is a case for them funding some....

So...

We are both 17, having passed the 7th form.

You want to benefit the community by being a lawyer or a dentist. You face an investment of 5 years, and maybe $200K. At the end, you will have the potential to earn a very good income.

I, on the otherhand want to be a truck driver. I inverst $200k in a Scania B-Train. At the end of 5 years, I have a clapped out truck, and have paid tens of thousands of dollars in tax, road user charges, etc etc.

We both invested the same amount of money and time.. maybe we should consider handing out free trucks to worth drivers...

[Swoop]

Now would be a good time to buy shares in a brewery. With an extra $150- per student going to be "invested" in the alcohol consumption business, those shares are going to go up!


Have they made it clear if overseas students are entitled to this allowance?
The worst students that I have encountered were the internationals who had Mummy and Daddy paying for their studies... and their "small commuter car to get to uni", and their "modifications to make the commuter car go a little bit faster"... then all of those tickets that they seemed to attract... then the lawyers bill and the court costs...

They certainly need that $150.

This will be an easy ride for serial academics who'll never stop studying and actually work.

Like the prime minister, perhaps...?

[geoffm]

My Significant Other works with preschool children (and their kids too . That and having kiddies at school, and doing work for a number of Min of Education primary and high schools for work, and a coupel of years as a student myself gives me a few opinions.
This is the most blatent vote grab since the last one. The money is going to the wrong place, you know there are problems when:
When uni students have to have remedial maths and english (and they are supposed to be the brightest we have).
When The Minsitry of Education has an allowance for $1750/sqm to build a school - inlcuding all professional fees and costs. You can't build a house for that, and a school sees a lot harder life than any house, then they can't afford to repair the cheap shabby job because the funding isn't enough.
The Unis can't pay their staff enough to keep them, or fun proper R&D and facilities.
Our so-called free education is a joke. My kids school volentary donation fees are $500+ PA (and going up) - for a local primary school

I am with National- it starts in the foundations with the basics. Given how many teachers are rabid labour supporters, and Labour MPs are teachers, I don't know if is cause or effect we have this mess.
Geoff

[Hitcher]

Teenagers are idealogical, and will most likely vote for the hippies.

They're not voting at all. The Electoral Commission can't even get them to register. Our ancestors spilled litres of blood earning the right to vote and some of our fellow citizens can't even get off their bloated taxpayer-funded arses and exercise their franchise. Teenagers included.

[Okey Dokey]

Just another "vote for me" bribe. Students can work part-time if cost is an issue. There are also interest free loans.

Maybe they will appreciate their opportunities a little more if they have to expend a little effort of their own, rather than have it handed to them on a plate.

[SPman]

Just another "vote for me" bribe. Students can work part-time if cost is an issue. There are also interest free loans.

Maybe they will appreciate their opportunities a little more if they have to expend a little effort of their own, rather than have it handed to them on a plate.

People have a strange idea about what most students do with their fees and allowances money. One year. my younger son had to borrow extra on his student loan to get enough to actually eat - his part time job paid for his rent and fuck all else but he didn't qualify for an allowance because his mother and I, although we lived at different ends of the country, earned just over the massive $50,000 or whatever it was, between us. And he was not alone in that , by any means. "Piss it up against the wall" - most of them would love to have enough money to buy 1 stubby a week!
Not all students come from Epsom or Remmers families!

[hazard02]

God damn. I've lived the past 3 years borrowing to live. Due to the income cap I don't qualify for any free money, but nor do I recieve any help with bills/rent/fees from my parents (divorced). Rather frustratingly, I know of several students who live at home with very well-off (and generous) parents who, due to convinient circumstances and/or stuff-ups, recieve between $100-$150 a week absolutely free. A "free money for all" scheme that is set to come into play right after I graduate is salt in the wounds really.

Bitterness aside, it is a terrible idea. Why on earth they haven't tried to introduce a fair system which grants students who actually need it the money. Or perhaps some incentive that pays off a certain amount of your student loan for every year you work in the country after graduating (with the amount being in regards to expertise that we desperately need to hold onto).

This short-sighted bribe is only going to encourage more drop-kicks who have no idea what to do after High school to cram into our universities and drink the taxpayers money away.

[avgas]

Anyone else find it ironic that the "Labour" party has nothing to do with working?

[avgas]

Our ancestors spilled litres of blood earning the right to vote

I always find that comment amusing, spilling of blood so you can vote.
What country can't vote these days? crikey even Cuba is fairly open slather....china has an elected house of reps......Ukraine is sick of voting.....
You have to laugh at it a little really, because the very sad truth was "was it all a waste"......which would only make me cry

[jrandom]

Politics aside, the issue of who pays for education...

An eloquent restatement of the question.

Do you also happen to hold an actual opinion on the correct answer?

[jrandom]

I would note that no amount of money borrowed by the State and given to 'students' will change the fact that the vast majority of people, tertiary-educated or otherwise, are idiots.

[vifferman]

Even if they have registered to vote, do you think uni students will vote for someone just because they get promised more money? Or are they likely to vote however the hell they were (or were not) going to vote anyway, regardless of bribes?

As for means testing and whatnot, the whole thing's crap as it is. My sister-in-law completed a degree as a mature student last year, and while she was doing it, she borrowed as much money as she could from the Gummint (as did her son, but he did piss it up against the wall), invested it, then paid the loan back. Dunno what she did with the interest - perhaps it was part of the deposit for one of the three rental properties their family trust owns...