In the fine print of the PMs statement there is a bit more light on National’s plans for student loans. As noted on Red Alert last week John Key’s appointment of Steven Joyce as Tertiary Minister was an indication that National had plans in this area. The PM has denied that major changes are afoot, but there are some issues at “the margins”.
But in the PMs statement yesterday we have the following
We will also take a careful look at the policy settings around student support to ensure that taxpayers generosity is not being expolited by those refuse to take their tertiary studies seriously, or who show little inclination to transition from tertiary training into work.
That translates to limits on student support- allowances and loans. It sounds like a time limit on how long it is available or being cut off in the event of failure. If this is the direction this would have serious consequences for participation in tertiary education. It ignores the reality that not everyone succeds right away in tertiary study, and raises questions about post graduate study or second degrees.
This is not tinkering at the margins.
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Once upon a time the 1st of April marked an important day in many New Zealand towns. It was the day that parks were handed from the summer codes (cricket or sofball usually) to the winter codes (rugby or soccer most likely). Who knows it may well still happen in some places, but believe it or not next weekend Super 14 (or is it 15) rugby will start for the year, and with it the saturation coverage on Sky Sport and elsewhere.
Am I alone in thinking this has got completely out of hand? I understand the pressure to fit in various pieces of the puzzle that make up a rugby season in a professional era, but we are not quite halfway through the international cricket season. The biggest tour of the year (Australia) is yet to happen.
Well, let it be known that this lifetime rugby fan is following in the footsteps of Mils Muliana and Richie McCaw and I will be delaying my start to the season, by about six weeks or so. Maybe by that stage of the competition they will have worked out the tackle ball rule for this season.
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Rush Limbaugh is the chief cheerleader of the Republican Right in the USA. Think Fox News, but on talkback and more angry. Here is a link to a story about his comments on why Americans should not donate to appeals for Haiti.
“This [the earthquake] will play right into Obama’s hands,” said Limbaugh. “He’s humanitarian, compassionate. They’ll use this to burnish their, shall we say, credibility with the black community – both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country. This is made to order for them.” Limbaugh also warned Americans against donating money. “Besides, we’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the US income tax,” he said.
Absolutely disgusting.
A reminder of Trevor’s earlier post that includes links to where you can donate.
(Hat Tip: Dorothy)
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After some time relaxing in the sun and showcasing the cricketing skills of the young and not so young, we had a really interesting afternoon session at the NZLP Summer School looking at how we retain and develop support for Labour. Margaret Hayward, a Labour stalwart and former private secretary to Norman Kirk kicked things off by looking at how Labour had put its values in action over the decades. Her aside that Kirk not only felt people should have good health, housing and education but also “something to look forward to” captured those values. Clare Curran provided a detailed analysis of a number of voter groupings and the use of social media. We learned her star pupil is Trevor Mallard who has clocked up more than 2400 friends in just a few weeks on Facebook! Jordan Carter finished the panel contributions by highlighting the importance of continuing Labour’s ability to build coalitions of support among traditional and new constituencies. As we expect from Jordan he provided some provocative ideas of policies to do just that.
Great session, lively discussion, lots of ideas and a few good laughs.
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Among the many things being dumped out at the end of the year by the government, was the Tertiary Education Strategy. The Press reported it focusing on changes to funding based around student performance. That is an interesting issue for debate, but further down the story is a very distrurbing signal.
Last night, Tolley said the current regime was “inflexible for providers and difficult to monitor for students. We are therefore looking at ways to simplify the regulation of fees.”
This is code for saying that the fee maxima policy that has limited fee increases to no more than 5% over recent years is going to go. This will see a return to the huge fee increases of the 1990s. In the two years I was the student representative of the Otago University Council fees went up by 18% and 15% respectively. Those sorts of increases contributed massively to student debt and ultimately put tertiary education beyond the reach of some people. Merry Christmas tertiary students of the future, from Anne Tolley.
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