Gabriel Boyd: Auckland University Student Association president on the new report claiming fees-free uni is a 'deadweight'

There's growing calls to evaluate the future of fees-free university after a recent review labelled the policy 'deadweight'.

The policy was originally introduced under the Jacinda-led Labour Government in 2017, with the current coalition moving the policy to cover a student's final year of university instead of the first.

AUSA president Gabriel Boyd says dismissing the policy is 'unfair', as it's helped students save money.

"I think the $12,000 that students saved, that they can then put towards accommodation, food, transportation, with this cost of living - does make a huge impact."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now a new report has found the university fees free
policy is a dead weight and should be scrapped. You'll
remember the policy. This is one brought in by Jasinda
Ardern next year's on us and then this government swapped
it to be the third year that was free, not
the first year. But the Ministry of Education report has
found there's no evidence that more people are signing up
for unique courses because of it. Gabriel Boyd is Auckland
University Students Association President with US.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hello Gabriel, Hi, hethero Thank you for having me on.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Very welcome. Do you agree that it's not working?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
I think to call it a dead weight is quite unfair.
I don't think it worked exactly the way the government planned.
But I would like to point out a couple of things.
I think the first being obviously, enrollments haven't seen the
spake that the government wasn't tending, but we don't know
the counterfactual. We don't know enrollments have been decreasing since

(00:50):
I believe two thousand and nine, and we don't know
what the case would have been had the fees free
schem not been implemented in the first place. I do
also want to point out in terms of reducing debt
levels for students, even assuming that enrollments weren't bumped at
all by this policy, I think the twelve thousand dollars
that students saved that they can then put towards accommodation, food,

(01:14):
transportation with this cost of living does make a huge impact.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, I mean, obviously there are greater considerations than that.
How much money the country's got, which is not a lot.
So if it hasn't done what it's designed to do,
should we just scrap it?

Speaker 2 (01:27):
I don't think we should scrap it. I think the
government should look at I think more creative ways of
implementing it. Obviously, you have the Labor Plan the first
year free, which was the whole purpose of that obviously
to reduce the parity at universities, which doesn't look like
it worked out. National then comes in and says final
years free, and it doesn't look like retention or completion

(01:49):
was really helped by that very much either. I think
a hybrid model whereby first year is free contingent on
the completion of a degree. I think that would not
only sort of push what Labor and National were hoping
to get out of Gabriel, I think it.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Didn't reguy that it had no impact whatsoever.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Even they never tried first year free contingent on completion.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
But but but we did first year free contingent on
nothing and it didn't. It didn't push up, it didn't.
It just did not push up enrollments.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, again, we don't know the Kinnter factual. Enrollments have
been decreasing steadily over time. Obviously, it's we're not in
a vacuum. We do have COVID to look at as well,
and to claim I think the broad claim that had
this not been implemented, the enrollment numbers would have been
the exact same. I don't think that's a completely fair
claim to make.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
All right, Gabriel, thanks very much, appreciate your time.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Mate.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
That's Gabriel boyd Auckland University Students Association President. For more
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