On Friday the 8th of May New Zealand’s beacon of austerity, Nicola Willis, confirmed what NZ First gerontocrat Winston Peters had leaked on Newstalk ZB, that fees free will be scrapped in the upcoming budget. Our very own iron lady shared that “We will have more to say about this in due course”. Well Nexus consider this due course to share our thoughts on the matter, namely, fuck you and students matter.
Nexus writers who understand the Beehive much better than me explained that this is a budget decision, not a policy that is being campaigned on, and speculated that Labour could implement fees free into its tertiary policy, but only if they feel the pressure from potential voters. Fees free being scrapped in election year reveals that young people are not seen as politically influential, effectively – students don’t matter.
From our understanding, if you are currently in any year of your degree except the final (e.g. you’re in your second year of a three-year bachelor’s degree), you will no longer get your fees free. If you enrolled at uni thanks to the policy of a year fees free (which was implemented to encourage tertiary study), the rug has been pulled out from under us. But that’s just a guess, because truth is we don’t fucking know yet. At the time of print we don’t really know what this means or will look like, but we do know that trusting the fees free policy has shown that we cannot assume a promise is safe if it was buzzed out of the Beehive.
What we do know is that students matter and education matters. Our Nexus writers chat has never said fuck as much as we did when this news broke. The cost of living is fucked. We all know as students that our weekly study link debt, even with fees free, isn’t enough to live off easily or comfortably – or even at all, in many cases, which is why so many of us work jobs too. Fees free made study more affordable for all of us, but particularly encouraged kiwis who otherwise couldn’t afford it – the same New Zealanders who would benefit the most from a degree – to go to uni and increase their earning potential.
Austerity only works to widen wealth inequality and lower quality of life for the masses. Cuts to education only save money by sacrificing skills and knowledge. Education benefits Aotearoa and its people beyond what can be quantified in a budget. Education should be free for everyone, and at every level.
