In Support Of A Living Allowance For All

The Victoria University Challenge: Signatures In Support Of A Living Allowance For All Students.

The Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) has challenged the senior management of the University, Wellington City Councillors, Members of Parliament and Ministers to sign the national petition demanding a living allowance for all tertiary students at the VUWSA Initial General Meeting next Wednesday.

“Most of these prominent people received their tertiary qualification for free, but many now support and administer a system that gives a living allowance to only a third of tertiary students, and has allowed student debt to balloon to over six billion dollars”, said VUWSA President Amanda Hill today.

The petition, launched by the New Zealand University Students’ Association (NZUSA) recently, calls upon the government to adjust parental income thresholds for inflation since 1992, and institute a living allowance for all tertiary students at the level of the unemployment benefit.

“Tertiary Institutions have lobbied against funding cuts for years. It is now time for them to realise that tertiary students, the primary stakeholders in their institutions, are the victims of an untenable situation of debt and poverty” Hill said today.

“By signing the petition in the year before a general election, members of government and University management are publicly supporting a return to the free education that they received” she said.

The petition would be available for signing at the VUWSA Initial General Meeting, to be held from 12.30pm in the Quad, Victoria University on Wednesday 17 March.

ENDS

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