Open Letter to Minister Chris Hipkins, regarding COVID-19 support for students
To the Honourable Chris Hipkins,
Minister of Education
Tēnā koe Minister Hipkins,
Firstly, Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) and Ngāi Tauira, the tauira Māori rōpū of Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington, would like to acknowledge the $20 million increase in hardship funding for tertiary students that was announced on Wednesday 8th August.
This will be beneficial to many learners, and this kind of support is critical to ensuring that our most vulnerable tauira have access to additional financial support. This announcement signifies a long-awaited acknowledgement from the Government that students have been, and are still, suffering financially from the impacts of Covid-19.
However, VUWSA and Ngāi Tauira believe that this alone is not enough support for students. Although this funding goes some way to alleviating the significant financial burden many students are facing, more must be done for tauira at this time.
Hardship funds are an ambulance at the bottom of the hill. They require students to provide proof of financial hardship and navigate a bureaucratic system to gain funding which may not cover their actual needs. Many students may not satisfy, or recognize they meet, the high threshold of financial distress to engage in the process, and to many it is simply inaccessible. Often, even after completing the process, students are left still foregoing the essentials to get by.
Given this, VUWSA and Ngāi Tauira are calling on the Government to make transformational and bold moves in the realm of student support. 15,000 students are only a fraction of those who are suffering.
We urge you, Minister, as a VUWSA alumni yourself, to recognize the significant economic plight of tauira, and implement the following:
1. A one-off wellbeing payment to all tertiary students, not linked to student loans
2. Recognition and adherence of the asks in the NZUSA National Action Plan on Covid-19
We urge that such a payment is not linked to student loans. Forcing students to take on additional debt to support themselves through a pandemic is not support. It is a band-aid solution which will only lead to additional future financial strife for students.
In addition, as signatories of the NZUSA Covid-19 National Action Plan on Covid-19, we believe this support must be further extended to Universal Education Income, and an adherence of the asks in the Plan. Given the recent acknowledgment of the strife of our students, it is time that the Government made good of its promise of student support and listened to both our national and local students’ associations’ pleas.
The Government has long needed to make transformational moves towards supporting learners in Aotearoa. Now is the time to do so. With many students losing the part-time and one-off work that they relied on to afford rent, food, and study, there is ample opportunity for such a change. A one-off student wellbeing payment, not linked to student loans, and a recognition of the NZUSA Action Plan would show to students that the Government is living up to its promise of being ‘student-centered.’
We write this in the best interest of our tauira at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington.
We passionately believe that students should be allowed to thrive, not just survive.
Ngā mihi nui,
Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association and Ngāi Tauira
Signed on behalf of: Michael Turnbull, Safari Hynes, Katelynne Pōtiki-Clune
