Shortcomings seen in aid to students

Press, 20 October 1986, Page 16

Shortcomings seen in aid to students

PA Wellington me present means of delivering financial assistance to tertiary students is inadequate, says a Treasury paper reviewing university, funding. The Treasury said it could be argued the present way of delivering aid redistributed income and wealth from the disadvantaged to the more advantaged. “Blanket measures ... result in a high level of resources being steered to a section of the student population who could afford to meet more of the real costs of their study,”

the Treasury said. The paper said a tight lid on funding could be a catalyst in the process of reform but allocation of extra resources, given the way aid was delivered, would not lead to the Government’s aim of broadening access to tertiary education. “Student income support may be set at a level too generous for the majority and too spartan for those in need,” the paper said. The absence of any incentive for students to realise the true cost of university courses against

the benefits they receive from them leads to “mismatches of demand and supply,” such as crowded courses and restricted entry courses. “If these costs, or a significant proportion of them, had to be met by students ... they would have a much greater incentive to exercise more judicious choices. . “Some might even choose not to undertake university education and instead find a relatively more rewarding form of post compulsory school training,” the Treasury said.