Students to outline the real causes of brain drain

Students will outline the real causes of the "brain drain" to Select Committee

The New Zealand University Students Association (NZUSA) has slammed the Business Roundtable funded advertisements by the "Young New Zealanders" group and will be outlining the real causes of New Zealand's 'brain drain' to the Education and Science Select Committee's upcoming inquiry into fees, lo ans and allowances.

The select committee is due to begin hearing oral evidence this month for its inquiry, which covers among other things the 'brain drain'.

"The Business Roundtable and others may choose to conveniently forget the student loans scheme as a key reason why young New Zealanders are heading overseas, but we certainly haven't and we will be telling this to the select committee," said Sam Huggard, Co President of NZUSA.

"Students who stay in New Zealand are faced with the prospect of a higher marginal tax rate than other New Zealanders, when their 10 cent in the dollar student loan repayment is taken into consideration."

"Until fees come down and access to living allowances is increased then we will continue to see student debt rise, and graduates will continue to leave the country. Under current policy, total student debt is predicted to rise to nearly $20 billion by the year 2020.

"Rather than playing political games in collusion with the extreme ideologues of the Business Roundtable, NZUSA will be making constructive suggestions to the select committee, in the hope that the government will make some serious movement on the costs of tertiary education" said Sam Huggard.

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