Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: I'd like to take some credit for the end of fees-free

We’re never going to know for sure what tipped the Government into finally cutting the fees-free policy but I would like to take some credit for this show’s part in it.

We have harped on about the need to get rid of that policy for so long that it actually started to get boring, even for me.

But as with everything: persevere and you will succeed. And finally, the policy is gone. We had it confirmed by Winston Peters on Friday.

Now, I’ve already had emails from people who are upset about this. I’ve heard students complaining and I’ve heard some parents complaining as well. And I understand - it is never fun to have free Government money taken away from you. It is because of this kind of angst that free Government money is so rarely clawed back once it’s started being handed out.

But this policy was a dog from the start. It cost perhaps $350 million a year - and $350 million a year is a lot of money. For that money, it didn’t do what it was supposed to do, which was to lift enrolments among poorer kids.

If it didn’t achieve that - if those kids were going to uni anyway and are still going - then all we were doing was wasting $350 million.

And to those worrying about students living in poverty or being unable to afford study, please remember: we taxpayers already subsidise about 70 percent of what it costs Kiwi kids to go to university. We already provide interest-free student loans.

It is already relatively cheap, by global standards, to go to university here.

You could argue that our system is already so generous that even making it more generous didn’t lift enrolments. It’s already generous enough.

Now, I am going to withhold judgment on Nicola and Winston and what the plan is from here because this Government does tend to save money only to spend it again.

They’re going to take some of that money and spend it on trades training. That might be a good idea - but then again, it might just be the same kind of slop as fees-free, only in a more worthy place. We’ll see.

But as for the cutting of Jacinda’s wasteful and pointless free year of study - RIP. And may we'll be more careful with our spending in the future.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, we're never going to know for sure what tipped
the government into finally cutting the fees free policy, but
I would like to take some credit for this show's
part in it, because we have harped on about the
need to get rid of that policy so long it
actually started to even get boring for me. But as
with everything, persevere and you will succeed. And finally the
policy is gone. We had it confirmed by Winston Peters

(00:20):
on Friday. Now I've already had emails from people who
are upset about this. I've heard students complaining about this.
I've heard some parents complaining about this, and I understand
because it is never fun to have free government money
taken away from you, and it is because of this
kind of angst that free government money is so rarely
taken away once it started to be handed out. But
this policy was a dog from the start. It costs

(00:43):
perhaps three hundred and fifty million dollars a year. Three
hundred and fifty million dollars a year is a lot
of money, and for that money, it didn't do what
it was supposed to do, which was to lift enrollments
from poorer kids, which means if it didn't do what
it was supposed to do. If the kids were going
to go to UNI anyway, and we're still going to UNI,
then all we were doing was wasting three hundred and
fifty million dollars. And to the people worrying about students

(01:04):
living in poverty or unable to afford to study, please
remember we tax payers already subsidize about seventy percent of
what it costs Kiwi kids to go to university. We
already provide interest free student loans. It is already globally
relatively cheap to go to university. Here. You could argue
that our system in this country for university study is

(01:27):
already so good that even when we made it more generous,
it didn't lift enrollments. It's already generous enough. Now I'm
not going to I am rather, I am going to
withhold judgment on Nicola and Winston and what the plan
is from here on in, because they are typically for
this government saving money only to spend it again. They're
going to take some of the money and they're going
to spend it on trades trading. Now that might be

(01:48):
a good idea, but then again it might also be
the same kind of slop as fees free, just in
a more worthy place, we'll see, But for the cutting
of Justinda's wasteful and pointless free year of study rip,
and may we be more careful all with our spending
in the future. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive,
listen live to News Talks it B from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.