NEWS
compensation reconsideration What does the future hold for Fees Free? By James Tapp
With national elections coming up in September this year, New Zealand's major political parties will once again be put under pressure to deal with tertiary education. Last year when the 2019 Wellbeing Budget was released, it was announced part of the Fees Free budget would be reallocated to boosting vocational tertiary education over tertiary education in universities, due to a lower number of students taking advantage of the scheme than expected.
In a statement, the government said it “initially budgeted for Fees Free at the upper end of potential demand and we are now in a position to re-allocate an estimated $197.1 million of the funding to another part of tertiary education.” When it was first announced, this flagship scheme was set to cost $380m per year to provide one year ‘fees free’, with no outset on costs relating to two or three years of free study.
