Hon.

Chris Hipkins

Minister of Education and COVID-19 Response

Former President of Victoria University Students’ Association

Cc Hon. Grant Robertson

Minister of Finance

Former President of Otago University Students’ Association, Former Co-President of NZ

University Students’ Association

Friday 10th September 2021

RE: Direct, immediate support for tertiary students

Kia ora Ministers,

Thank you for your commitment to and work on the COVID-19 elimination strategy. This is something
the Greens strongly support. It’s why so much of our mahi since COVID-19 reached our shores has
been to highlight the importance of an equitable economic response, to ensure that fiscal policy is
used to mitigate any of the ‘distributional impacts’ – namely, exacerbated inequality and more fuel on
the fire of the housing crisis – through support for those on the lowest and most precarious incomes.

Throughout last term, my office had collaborated with Minister Hipkin’s office to reinstate post-
graduate student allowance, which we’d been expecting in the 2020 budget. It was gutting to see in
the midst of the pandemic, Labour decided to pull the pin on its promise to reinstate this support. This
was especially disheartening on the backdrop of profound inequities in access to and outcomes within
our educational system, the RBNZ now stating that we’re at or above ‘maximum sustainable
employment’ that can apparently only be remedied with new skills and training within the economy,
and students are among the most precarious income earners in our country.
COVID-19 is no longer seen as unprecedented, but it is radically changing the way that many interact
with the world. Lockdowns are having a disproportionate impact on those who have precarious and
low incomes, and are exposing the vast inequities that were already present in our systems by
making them worse. The Government has a once-in-a-generation opportunity now to rebuild the
safety net, which my colleague Ricardo Menéndez March has been highlighting across Select
Committees and the House. This is the transformational change so many New Zealanders are in
desperate need of. As always, we invite you to implement our fully costed Poverty Action Plan, with a
Guaranteed Minimum Income for every adult in Aotearoa. For students, this would mean an effective
Universal Student Allowance.

You are probably well aware of the many flaws in the criteria and means testing processes for student
allowance that create inequities. Students who technically aren’t eligible, but who definitely need
support, end up accumulating debt. It’s also not available for students studying anything less than full-
time (who also cannot access course-related costs), or post-graduate students. The Greens strongly
maintain that a Universal Student Allowance, as part of a Guaranteed Minimum Income, is the best
solution to the problems in front of us, and note you’ve had correspondence from Student
Associations in support of this kind of proposal in the last week.

Unfortunately, the Government’s response to only top up Hardship Funds for Learners directly to
Universities, ITPs and PTEs this past week has been received by a number of students, who’d been
hopeful of support in the wake of this most recent lockdown, as a “slap in the face.”

The Government’s PR states this will help approximately 15,000 students. TEC data tells us there are
over 380,000 students in Aotearoa (250,000 FTE). The complex formula for calculating automatic
allocation of this funding to the 120 eligible institutions speaks to things like the deciles of school-
leavers who are now with these institutions. Yet there are also no requirements on how this funding is
to be allocated to students by the TEOs, meaning there’s a broad range of approaches taken across
each, leading to potentially even more inequity. This is compounded by the hundreds of stories my
office has received from students speaking to how invasive, embarrassing and administratively
burdensome these application processes are.
I am hoping that the Government is willing to adjust to new data, evidence and information, as it so
nimbly has in response to COVID-19, and consider a new approach. Based on the information in your
PR, the Hardship Fund top-up announced on Wednesday 8 September would only extend to cover
approximately 5% of the students in this country. Unlike the Wage Subsidy, where employers receive
funding they must legally pass directly to each of their employees with the purpose of keeping people
in jobs, the Hardship Fund will only support a very small group of students, and we’ve heard from who
are having to drop out due to financial strain.

This is particularly acute in a place like Tāmaki Makaurau, where restrictions are due to stay for a
while yet and many students’ futures hang in the balance. Across the country, we’re also hearing of
Universities making snap decisions to move all teaching for the rest of the year online, refusing to
engage in grade bumps unlike last year, and not delaying exams.

Students are in a pressure cooker and more support is desperately needed. That is why the Greens
launched a petition on Wednesday 8 September, now at almost 7000 signatories in just 48 hours,
calling for immediate, direct financial support for all students. The Government can universalise
student allowances. You can ensure everyone has access to what they need to not only survive, but
thrive. This is all the more pertinent in a time where research shows 80% of all future jobs will require
more advanced training and retraining.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me or my office if I can be of any help at all. Thank you.

Kind Regards,

Chlöe Swarbrick

Green Party of Aotearoa spokesperson for Tertiary Education and Youth

Member for Auckland Central