Student allowance rules a barrier for older students, says student union

Marise Marshall says student allowance rules meant she experienced significant financial hardship while trying to better herself and gain a degree. Photo/Paul Taylor

A Hastings single mum of four has backed New Zealand Union of Students' Association (NZUSA) calls for policy changes around student loans and allowances for older students, having first-hand experience of the financial hardships that could result.

In 2011 the National Government axed student loans for living costs for students aged 55 and over, and in 2012 student allowances for postgraduate study were abolished.

In 2013, the lifetime limit for student allowances was reduced from 200 weeks (five years) to 120 weeks (three years) for students aged 40 and over.

For Marise Marshall, who started studying for her Bachelor in Business Studies at Hastings EIT in 2014, the reduction in the lifetime limit created significant financial hardship, but didn't derail her efforts to make a better life for herself and her children.

Marshall, now aged 55, embarked on her degree after spending years working at low paid jobs.

Aged over 40 when she began, however, she got caught in the legislation, which meant she could get a student allowance for three years, but not for the final year of her studies.

She said while it had been a financial struggle on the student allowance for the first three years, being a single mother with three children at home, it really started to bite in the fourth year when the allowance finished.

She said she was unable to pay her rent and was facing eviction.

"We got into serious financial difficulty - I went to WINZ to try and get on the benefit so I could provide a roof over our heads and feed my children, but I was denied because I was studying full-time."

She said her WINZ case manager advised her to give up her studies.

"I was shattered and outraged - I had invested three years already into this degree - I had eight papers to go and I wanted to cross the finish line."

She eventually managed to get a benefit after Winz "bent the rules" - receiving $372 a week and paying $350 rent.

"There were nights when we had mashed potato and bread for dinner - my two sons got tired of my having no money and decided to move to live with their dad in Hamilton."

She said she and her children made sacrifices for her studies, but the example she had set had been positive, with two of her children at university and the others high achievers at school.

"To me it sends a message that I am not as valuable to society or our community as a younger person under the age of 40 and I dispute that.

"I am the type of person who is settled, I am not going to stay with an employer for two years and then disappear overseas - I will give my loyalty and working time."

NZUSA president Jonathan Gee said the association had made recommendations from a number of research reports and written to the minister around the issue of older students.

While Labour's 2017 election policy promised to restore postgraduate students' eligibility for student allowances and restore the eligibility of students in long courses, such as medicine, to access student allowances or loans beyond seven years full time study, it had not promised to restore student loans for living costs for students aged 55-plus.

There had also been no mention of restoring the 200 weeks of student allowances for students over 40.

"We have come across a lot of people in Marise's situation – particularly in the polytechs around the region."

While the current Government's vision for a barrier-free education was more aligned with the NZUSA's, making changes to the legislation around older students would be a simple first step to support the regions, Gee said.