a). Technical Institutes

Student nurses have to travel from the Institutes to work at hospitals. This is a compulsory requirement of their courses. They also have to provide their own protective clothing for clinical work, unlike Hospital Board Student Nurses.

A survey at Auckland Technical Institute last year found that it would cost $60,000 to pay public transport fares (and taxis after 11 p.m. and before 7 a.m.) for the travel costs at that institute alone.

Yet the Government has provided this year only $85,000 to reimburse students on 10 paramedical courses and 15 design courses for the extra costs they face. Welcome though this money is, it will simply not cover more than a fraction of the costs involved. Design students face particularly heavy expenses for materials which are an essential part of their courses. They can pay up to $500 per annum for these materials.