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Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 40 No. 14. June 13 1977
Students take to the Streets
Students take to the Streets
In fact students became so dissatisfied with the lack of progress progress on the Government's bursary promises that they took to the streets to demonstrate their concern. Over 10,000 students demonstrated around the country in March 1975, and as several commentators said later, made it clear to the politicians that they could afford to ignore students no longer.
At the end of May 1975 the "new" bursary system was announced in the Budget. It meant that, from the start of 1976, students would get a $24 a week bursary in their first three years of study and $27 a week from their fourth year on. But these improved bursary rates were to be "abated" by $11 a week in the case of students who didn't have to live away from home to attend university or a technical institute on exactly the same inequitable principles as the former boarding allowance.
Capitalising on the widespread feeling among students that they had been betrayed by Labour, the National Party started working to turn the standard tertiary bursary into an election issue. First they decided to scrap the new bursary system outright. But once it had been made clear to them that students did not want to see that happen, they promosed to "reform" the Lavour plan and get rid of the "anomalies"in it.
| (a) | Retain the present level of allowances paid to student teachers; |
| (b) | Reinstate the 'A' and 'B' bursaries at the same value and on the same conditions as applied in 1975; |
| (c) | Place technical institute students on the same relative basis as University students; |
| (d) | Replace the standard tertiary bursary as soon as negotiations would permit with a new reformed bursary increased to take into account costs and thereafter to adjust it annually; |
| (e) | Consult with student bodies, professional organisations and affected institutions on all aspects needed to reform the bursary system; |
| (f) | Increase the value of bursaries to take into account increased costs since the last adjustment and thereafter increase them annually. |
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Despite the deliberate vagueness of these policy planks, it was obvious that they meant a commitment to making changes and increasing the value of bursaries. And the National Party went out of its way to hammer these promises home to students
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— in an advertisement in major daily papers a few days before the General Election it said that under National every student would get the standard tertiary bursary!
After the election NZUSA went to see the new Education Minister Mr L.W. Gandar to find out how this policy would be carried out.