The government debated a gradual phase-out of the fees-free tertiary education scheme but ultimately found it overly complex and instead chose to eliminate it entirely at once.
This policy, which currently funds students’ third year of tertiary education, will be discontinued in the forthcoming Budget.
On Tuesday, Tertiary Education Minister Penny Simmonds explained that the government had initially considered a phased approach to allow students who expected their third year to be free to still benefit from it.
“It made it more complicated because obviously people start at different times through the year, so it was easier to have a hard end to it, and then it’s really clear for everyone,” she stated.
Simmonds noted that the funding had never been a guaranteed promise.
“Things change from year to year, from budget to budget, and it hasn’t been something that has necessarily incentivised people to study,” she added.
The scheme was initially launched by the Labour government in 2017 as a first-year fees-free initiative, starting in 2018, before the current coalition shifted the funding to cover the final year from 2025.
This adjustment means current second-year students will not benefit from a free first year of study, nor will they receive support for their final year.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon criticized the scheme as “quite a failure,” asserting that it did not meet its intended objectives.
Some students have expressed concerns about their reliance on the scheme, questioning whether they can still afford to continue their studies.
