Retrospective rule change will hit students and institutions hard

The Government's decision to make the changes to eligibility for student loans retrospective is unfair to students and has the potential to have disastrous consequences for the finances of tertiary institutions, Grant Robertson, Labour Tertiary Education Spokesperson says.

"It is one thing for the government to introduce a requirement for students to pass more than half their course over two years, but to make it retrospective to include their performance in 2009 is demonstrably unfair,” Grant Robertson said.

“In 2009 students were operating under a different set of rules and expectations and had no idea the government was planning this approach. It’s not as if they can do anything to change the grades they received in 2009.

"The classic situation here will be a student who enrolled in a university in 2009, found that they could not cope and failed their courses. They may well be at a Polytechnic this year, and doing much better, but if they fail just one paper they will lose their eligibility for student loans.

“Losing that eligibility will almost certainly mean that the student will not be able to continue to study, and may well end up unemployed. Is that what Mr Joyce wants?"

"Some institutions are reporting that between 20-30% of their students are at risk of falling foul of the requirements for 2011. This will have a major impact on the funding that those institutions will receive, many of whom are already facing significant budget cuts,” Grant Robertson said.

"When this policy was announced Mr Joyce did not indicate that it would be retrospective, and he has not publicly said that since. Having a reference hidden away in Cabinet papers and the depths of Ministry websites is not good enough. The reason the issue has come to light now is that StudyLink who administer student loans have started informing students and institutions as to how they will implement the government's policy. For some students that will be too little too late.

"It is little wonder that the Department of Labour, Te Puni Kokiri, the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs all expressed concerns about this change. If Mr Joyce wants to go ahead with this policy he needs to abandon the retrospectivity and give students a fair go," Grant Robertson said.

ENDS

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