Comments on: A very good policy

By: Toa Greening

Toa Greening — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 21:31:15 +0000

This is more economically irresponsible than Nationals student debt policy. With Debt anticipated to grow at faster rates than previously measured you very quickly see that a Universal Student allowance is the most fairest policy for lowering student debt. The Greens should be admonishing Labour for proposing this and pushing the Universal Student allowance.

By: musbee

musbee — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 05:39:20 +0000

That’s been my plan all along, Frog - pay my loan when I hand in my thesis with the money we’ve been saving and making interest on in the meantime. Still will, since we plan on heading overseas for a couple of years after that.
The other thing that noone has commented on much is that because of the student allowance scheme being extended to half of all students, that’s an added restriction on who can borrow and how much - it’s only possible to get combined living costs and allowance up to the weekly limit of $150. Obviously that won’t appease those who think students getting money at all is an almighty gip, but still…
I also think that because many students are going to want to go overseas regardless of the scheme, there’s an incentive there for people to pay off their loans faster than the minimum, before they head off. Maybe not many, but the incentive will exist for some.
And the blog is still playing up, which is how I come to be looking at older entries - postings are only showing up in the admin section, not on the front page.

By: Christiaan

Christiaan — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 22:57:47 +0000

David, how about forget the money and make a real wager? How about the loser creates a prominent link (the most prominent link on their website) to a dedicated page on their website whereby they make a public genuine apology (i.e. no “buts”, etc.) and grovel for forgiveness for making the mistake of being on the wrong side of the political spectrum?

By: frog

frog — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 22:24:02 +0000

David: Well, when Labour forms the next government, perhaps we could have that bet

Anyway, given that student loans are already interest-free *while you’re studying*, it would already make sense under your logic for students who can afford to pay their fees and living costs out of their own money to get loans and chuck their own money in a savings account, and then pay the loan back on the day they graduate. Is there any evidence that this has happened since Labour introduced its interest write-off scheme in 1999? I don’t know the answer, I’m just asking… Becuase, by your logic, any students in a position to do this who hadn’t are “clinically insane”.

Presumably, if there hasn’t been a huge increase in the money borrowed since 1999, then the dangers you’re talking about aren’t actually all that likely. After all, if rich students wanted to be enterprising and make money off the student loan scheme, they’d already be doing so…

By: David Farrar

David Farrar — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 22:09:49 +0000

Frog argues against arguments I have not made. It ius naive to pretend borrowing will not syyrocket, especially when there is actual emperical evidence it did so the last time Labour made loans interest free, albeit just while studying.

Nio-one has claimed one can borrow a big chunk. Red herring. But you will be mad to pay your fees yourself rather than by loan, even if you have the money to do so.

As for total debt. The $300 million saved will be swamped by the extra borrowing. I am so confident of this, that I would be willing to bet a very large amount of money that if this policy is implemented, total debt will grow faster than any previous year.

By: OliverBendix

OliverBendix — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 22:02:21 +0000

Stuey: it works in Firefox for me and shows me saving loads of money over the course of my loan payments.

Joy: My wife and I, two graduates with big loans - hers still increasing because she’s studying again - squeal with glee in resonse to this policy. If I’d been an undecided voter it could easily have tipped me towards Labour.

By: stuey

stuey — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 12:52:32 +0000

does Labours calculator actually work?

we can’t get it to work in either firefox or safari

oh I see that it only works in IE.

aha. well they’ve lost my vote then!!

By: Christiaan

Christiaan — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 08:03:11 +0000

Labour’s calculator reckons I’d potentially save in the order of $40 000.

By: Christiaan

Christiaan — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 08:01:20 +0000

Here’s a question though, what is defined as a graduate? What if you were offered a job a year and a half into your studies and never looked back? Am I still a “graduate”?

By: Christiaan

Christiaan — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 07:59:18 +0000

Yahhh, about bloody time they got rid of this outrageous policy! My loan ballooned by $17 000 over the past few years as I’ve only just managed to start paying it off (using Pounds Sterling). I would have been better off with a bank mortgage! When I transferred $4000 the other day by credit card I noticed that the government and Westpac had the cheek to charge me a $100 fee for the trouble. And to rub it in they call it a bloody “courtesy fee”!

I’ll probably be able to get my traditionally Nat-voting Father to vote Labour/Greens because of this, if I haven’t already convinced him that Brash is a war monger.

Looks like I’ll be coming home sooner than expected too!!

(Frog, it might be worth pointing out to kiwiblog the countries that already have this sort of policy implemented)