1
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,800
Speaker 1: Reading this story this morning about fees free, you've got

2
00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:05,200
Speaker 1: to wonder how the policy got through the Boffins and

3
00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:07,760
Speaker 1: Wellington in the first place. It has, by all accounts,

4
00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:12,440
Speaker 1: failed to achieve its objectives. Did we see floods of

5
00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:16,320
Speaker 1: people charging into lecture halls and studying at university? No?

6
00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:20,360
Speaker 1: Did we see loads of poorer students benefiting? No? What

7
00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:24,160
Speaker 1: did it cost us? Again? Two point six billion dollars

8
00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,400
Speaker 1: was the policy costing three and a half million last

9
00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:32,240
Speaker 1: year alone. That's one and a half brand new Dunedin hospitals.

10
00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:35,200
Speaker 1: In case you're interested, and this is what it got us,

11
00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:40,240
Speaker 1: No increase in participation. Two hundred and thirty students from

12
00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:43,479
Speaker 1: poor schools were helped. This is last year. That is

13
00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:48,280
Speaker 1: one point three percent. A whopping seventy percent of the

14
00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:50,800
Speaker 1: kids who had their UNI fees paid for up to

15
00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:57,520
Speaker 1: twelve thousand dollars each were from above average socioeconomic schools.

16
00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:02,560
Speaker 1: They were the wealthier kids, did they No. I've always

17
00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:05,560
Speaker 1: backed the interest free student loan idea because you can

18
00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:08,319
Speaker 1: borrow and you don't have to stress about the interest

19
00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,080
Speaker 1: piling up. Then you can work hard to pay it

20
00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:14,960
Speaker 1: down once you finish. But clearly fees free was too

21
00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,959
Speaker 1: much of a free lunch, not enough discipline or focus

22
00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,520
Speaker 1: in its spending. Now, the problem is that Winston and

23
00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:25,280
Speaker 1: National have kept this policy alive. They've just changed it

24
00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:27,440
Speaker 1: to the final year of study instead of the first

25
00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:29,960
Speaker 1: year of study. The idea is that it'll encourage students

26
00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:34,560
Speaker 1: to finish their education, to finish their degrees. The problem

27
00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:37,759
Speaker 1: it's not doing that either. There's no evidence that it's

28
00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,920
Speaker 1: doing that either. So after all of that said and done,

29
00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:43,760
Speaker 1: you've got to ask yourself, with such a high price tag,

30
00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,680
Speaker 1: is the whole thing worth having at all? For more

31
00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:50,840
Speaker 1: from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News

32
00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,880
Speaker 1: Talk Set B from five am weekdays, or follow the

33
00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:55,400
Speaker 1: podcast on iHeartRadio.