Highlight of the bursaries week was the forum with invited representatives of the major political parties. Labour didn't show up, Social Credit sent along the Wellington Central candidate Ron England, who knew almost nothing on the subject, and National's front man was Barry Brill, a self confessed non-expert on education.

Brill repeatedly told the students that it was up to them to pay their way with only partial assistance from the government; Sending students through university has never been the responsibility of the government and probably never will". Despite this statement, Brill constantly referred to the reformed bursary which National promised students in 1975 but hasn't been seen since.

He evaded charges of cheap electioneering in 1975. Confronted with copies of his party's own advertisements which state "All students will receive the Standard Tertiary Bursary", he was content to refer us to other advertising which made no such promises!

Brill admitted that many of the anomilies raised at the forum were "things that had to be looked at" and that he "would be taking them to the minister". Familiar? Two striking anomalies which really floored him were the abatement regulations, and the PhD deficiencies.

The Hard Luck Cases

As students will know, if you live in the same area as your parents, you recieve the abated version — the massive $15 per week. This is irrespective of whether you actually live with your parents or not. The reasoning behind this is that parents should be supporting their children through the education system, even though they may be over twenty years old, old.

But take the case of an orphan. According to the bursary regulations, where s/he lives is automatically called home. It's amazing what a government will do to save money.

A student living in Upper Hutt with his/her parents recieves $15. With approximately $7 spent weekly on train fares, the sensible thing to do, of course, is flat in town. If they choose to do this, as most students eventually do, they recieve no extra money, although the average rent in the Wellington central urban area is $15.

For the PhD student, things are even more ludicrous. Expenses are high, and yet they are not automatically entitled to any form of grant. One third of PhD students miss out on any sort of entitlement and have to tutor or do lab supervision to keep themselves going.

Student Loans

When the question of student loans was raised, Brill again admitted his lack of knowledge on the subject. In a document called "Planning Perspectives for New Zealand 1978—83", the NZ Planning Council makes strong recommendations for a system of student loans to be introduced in the near future. Primarily the reason is economic — it would relieve the government of the responsibility of $21 million that they presently pay out to students. It would in effect mean, as Barry Brill put it, "a living loan" or "allowing students to have loans."

It sounds so simple. Students would come to university and live comfortably for three or four years and then when they've made their money after graduation, they'd simply pay all the money back. All right in theory, but what if students can't get a job after graduation, or a well enough paid job to enable them to pay back the money (probably $4—5,000)? Chances are that they'll be paying off the loan for years. And what if they want to go overseas after completing their degree?

In practice, a loans scheme would be even more unequitable than the present system. Rich students could simply reinvest the money, taking advantage of the low interest rates.

Better off Unemployed?

An interesting point was raised from the floor to the effect that if a student decided to leave varsity and was not lucky enough to get a job, they would recieve $44 in unemployment; whereas, if s/he opted for another year at varsity, the government would cut back the allowance to $26 if they were lucky.

Brill, rather taken-a-back by the suggestion, reiterated yet again that it was not the government's role to support tertiary education to the extent of granting students bursaries they could live on. Although firms like Tasman Pulp and Paper have virtually all their expenses paid in the way of roading, electricity and waste disposal by the government, and pay next to no tax in return plus the additional benefit of having the government sorting out their industrial troubles for them, students, whose long term contribution to the country is undoubtedly greater, get sweet all for the privilege of attending university.

Other Views.

The forum was a lively affair — Brill coming in for his fair share of abuse from the audience, although he did justice to the National Party's record on education by pleading ignorance.

Ron England was given a surprisingly attentive response — the result of kudos from the League's recent gains and the baffling nature of most of their policy. He said very little about education and even less about bursaries. Social Credit support a higher allowance for students for what it's worth — but I think they're going to use NZUSA bursary money to do it.

Les Gandar, rumoured to be the minister of Education, has promised to appear at Vic before the elections. It'll be worth seeing. Rumour also has it that Bruce Beetham is going to spring a visit on Vic. Just look out for a man in a pin striped suit with a printing press under his arm.

David Murray