Dom Post on Universities

The Dom Post says:

Union of Students Association co-president David Do says student groups are already seeing an increase in exclusions for poor academic performance. He proposes more funding as the solution. It is not. Mr Do says toughening up the admission standards goes against New Zealanders’ sense of fairness and their sentiment that people should be given a “fair go”.

New Zealanders do believe in giving people a “fair go”. They do not not believe in giving them a free ride regardless of performance – especially when taxpayers are paying out nearly $4 billion a year for tertiary education.

Of course NZUSA calls for more funding – just as Labour did. By coincidence Mr Do was the Chairman of the Princes Street Branch of Labour not long ago.

NZUSA often go on about the high level of student debt. Well I’m worried about the high level of taxpayer debt – we are borrowing $240 million every week to fund stuff like universities. To think that taxpayers should borrow even more is naive.