The Main Implications for Students

The Basic Level

In reading the Budget to Parliament Mr Muldoon made an initial misleading comment when introducing the hew scheme. He referred to a $40 grant. However, in reality it is a $23 weekly grant for the academic year.

This represents a significant change from the present STB. Instead of four different levels there is now only one.

Obviously the group of students who suffer the most are those on the unabated rate. They represented, in 19 78, about 57% of all STB holders and will suffer weekly reductions of either $7 or $10.50.

The following figures show the distribution of students on the abated and unabated rates throughout the seven universities.

Returns for numbers of students receiving standard tertiary bursaries in New Zealand universities in 1978.

Auckland University	3704	62.4	2230	37.6
Waikato University	426	33.2	859	66.8
Massey University	363	13.1	2401	86.9
Victoria University	2143	65.1	1150	34.9
University of Canterbury	1904	49.3	1964	50.7
Lincoln College	142	13.8	888	86.2
Otago University	994	22.2	3492	77.8

At a minimum at least one-third of STB holders will suffer a direct cut at each campus. The effects are most severe at Massey, Lincoln, Otago and Waikato.

The position of unabated students shows how farcicial the Minister's claim that the controversial abatement has been ceased is. Rather than abolish the abatement (which has been a demand of students since it's implementation in 1976) Mr Wellington has abated all bursary holders.

Superficially one would expect that the abated students would have reason to be content. There is little effective change for those on $22.50 but on the surface those on $19 get a $4 increase.

However if a conservative estimate of a 10% annual [unclear: rate] is added to a $1.50 [unclear: ne][unclear: e] the tax changes announced in [unclear: late][unclear: xtra] fees that students will have to pay [unclear: to] disappears and the net gam for this group of [unclear: s] is nil. Given this perspective, the students on will actually lose about $3-4 in real terms, above formulation is a very conservative one [unclear: ually] misleadingly portrays the real losses of [unclear: ents]. In February a Department of Education [unclear: ntial] document was leaked to Wellington's Post That document revealed that in order [unclear: re] the STB to its real value in 1976 for 1980 it [unclear: ave] to be increased by $9 per week. This $9 [unclear: de] up of $7.50 for erosion by inflation and or tax changes.

[unclear: nring] to the new single level it is also misleading that $23 is the basic level. In fact there is an restriction on this. Students are not eligible for if they are in receipt of a personal income of [unclear: 000] per annum. The amount of the grant will [unclear: ced] by $2 weekly for every $100 or part thereof [unclear: 000]. For full-time students holiday earnings disregarded.