Why the Coalition should worry less about scholarships and more about Studylink

Hello. My house burnt down on my birthday. Well not down, but it burnt. And I’m currently living in a motel. Forgive me for phoning this one in; a better article is coming.

And probably also a poetry substack, whenever I finally get around to it.

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From: Stephanie Cullen <s.cullen@hotmail.co.nz> Sent: Wednesday, July 2, 2025 03:09 PM To: Kieran McAnulty <mailto:kieran.mcanulty@parliament.govt.nz> Subject: Final Year Fees Free for First Time Learners

Hi Kieran,

A while ago in a fit of frustration, I emailed your party asking you to campaign on ending neoliberalism, not really expecting a response. Well, you said you’d pass it onto your policy committee, which I’m pretty sure I know the outcome of, but I appreciated the reply anyway. 

Here’s something you might actually consider:

National’s rearranging of Labour’s Fees Free programme has created an 8th year of funded tertiary education that is only available to first time students who start studying after National took power. This creates a stupid situation for all other students who would love the opportunity to study for an eighth funded year but cannot, as they began their studies before fees free existed. 

If the final year’s fees free policy change National implemented was actually about cost-effectiveness and incentivising the completion of study, it would available to all, not just first time learners. But National changed this policy simply to save money, even though the cost of extending final year funding to non-first-time learners would be relatively minimal. Because of this, they weren’t thinking about how our student loan system already severely limits the study a person can complete, and have missed this opportunity to extend it to an effective 8 years of funded EFTs instead of 7. 

I thought I’d try my luck emailing Erica Stanford, but the current government aren’t interested, even though they are the ones who have created this inequity. I’ve attached my correspondence with them. But I think this could be a cheap vote winner. And I do want Labour to win, even if I won’t vote for neoliberals. 

This will come in too late to help me but someone should fix it. 

Consider it ;)

All the best,

Stephanie Cullen

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From: Shane Reti (MIN) <S.Reti@ministers.govt.nz> Sent: Monday, June 30, 2025 10:51 AM To: s.cullen@hotmail.co.nz <s.cullen@hotmail.co.nz> Subject: RE: SRC-291: Final Year Fees Free for First Time Learners

 

Kia ora Stephanie

 

On behalf of Hon Dr Shane Reti, please find attached correspondence from the Minister.

 

Ngā mihi

 

 

Office of Hon Dr Shane Reti

Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology

Minister for Universities

Minister of Statistics

Minister for Pacific Peoples

Email: S.Reti@ministers.govt.nz

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

 

 Dear Stephanie

Final-year Fees Free Scheme

Thank you for your email of 4 June 2025 to the Minister of Education, Hon Erica Stanford, sharing your concerns about the final-year Fees Free scheme. I am responding as the matters you raise fall within my portfolio responsibilities. I appreciate you taking the time to reach out, and I am sorry to hear about the mental health challenges you have faced.

As you are aware, learners must meet eligibility criteria to receive final-year Fees Free.

I acknowledge your disappointment about the prior study criterion and the impact this has had on your plans. For a learner who started study or training before 1 January 2025 to be eligible for final-year Fees Free, they need to have undertaken less than half a year of eligible full-time study (usually around 60 credits), regardless of when this occurred.

The final-year Fees Free eligibility criteria encourage completion of tertiary education and reward first-time learners who finish their study, while also balancing costs for the Government. This is why there is a limit for study undertaken before 1 January 2025. As with many Government supports, and any changes to these, there are sometimes people who will unfortunately miss out.

I acknowledge the financial pressures tertiary students can face, and there are other Government supports available to help eligible learners with the cost of study, including student loans and allowances. We want to ensure as many people as possible can participate in tertiary education, and as the costs of supporting a large number of tertiary students are high, no student has unlimited access to student support. From your email, I understand that you have nearly used up your student loan and allowances entitlements and are looking for further financial assistance. Students who have used up their student allowances entitlement may still be eligible for the Accommodation Supplement. You can find more information at studylink.govt.nz/products/a-z-products/ accommodation supplement.html.

I encourage you to discuss how best to structure your study and fee payments with your tertiary provider. You may also wish to explore scholarships that could be available to you, and more information can be found at universitiesnz.ac.nz/scholarships.

The policy change you suggest would need to be carefully considered alongside other spending priorities in tertiary education and wider Government commitments. I am notcurrently considering changes to the final-year Fees Free scheme.

While I appreciate this is likely not the response you were hoping for, the Government must ensure that careful investment is made into a tertiary sector that supports a significant number of students.

Thank you again for writing, and I wish you all the very best with the remainder of your studies.

Yours sincerely

Hon Dr Shane Reti

Minister for Uuniversities

 

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From: Shane Reti (MIN) Sent: Thursday, 12 June 2025 10:21 AM To: s.cullen@hotmail.co.nz Subject: RE: SRC-291: Office of Hon Erica Stanford: Formal Transfer of Correspondence

 

Kia ora Stephanie

 

This is to acknowledge your email has been forwarded to the office of Hon Dr Shane Reti, Minister for Universities, for consideration. On behalf of Hon Dr Shane Reti, thank you for taking the time to write.

 

I have made note of your correspondence below and passed it on to the team for their consideration.

 

Ngā mihi,

 

Office of Hon Dr Shane Reti

Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology

Minister for Universities

Minister of Statistics

Minister for Pacific Peoples

Email: S.Reti@ministers.govt.nz

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

 

 

 

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From: Erica Stanford (MIN) <E.Stanford@ministers.govt.nz> Sent: Tuesday, 10 June 2025 11:44 AM To: s.cullen@hotmail.co.nz Cc: Shane Reti (MIN) <S.Reti@ministers.govt.nz> Subject: SRC-291: Office of Hon Erica Stanford: Formal Transfer of Correspondence

 

Kia ora Stephanie,

 

On behalf of Hon Erica Stanford, Minister of Education and Immigration, thank you for your email.

 

Please be assured that your concerns have been noted. The subject matter you raise falls within the portfolio responsibilities of Hon Shane Reti, therefore your correspondence will be transferred to that office for their consideration.

 

Kind regards,

Office of Hon Erica Stanford

 

Office of Hon Erica Stanford

 

MP for East Coast Bays

Minister of Education

Minister of Immigration

Lead Coordination Minister for the Government’s Response to the Royal Commission’s Report into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions

 

Website: www.Beehive,govt.nz

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

 

Disclaimer: The information in this email (including attachments) is confidential and may be legally privileged. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this email, please notify the author by replying to this email and destroy the message. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure, copying or distribution is prohibited and may be unlawful.

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Stephanie Cullen <s.cullen@hotmail.co.nz>

Sent: Wednesday, 4 June 2025 7:40 PM

To: Hon Erica Stanford <erica.stanford@parliament.govt.nz>

Subject: ESC8761 Final Year Fees Free for First Time Learners

 

Hello,

 

I am writing to you about the changes you have made to the fees free programme and how it currently operates.

 

I understand that the changes were to make the programme more cost efficient and effective at incentivising learners to complete their course of studies. I would like to share my story with you to convince you as to why this programme should be extended to all learners completing a course of study, not just first time learners.

 

I am currently on the jobseekers benefit with a work-seeking exemption for mental health reasons, working up to ten hours per week, and as my recovery continues, I am considering returning to finish the law degree I began as an LLB/BA in 2013 but did not finish due to my then-deteriorating mental health. Although I had no problem with the BA courses in my degree, the LLB part of the degree was more demanding and too difficult to juggle while also having to work part time, and so I left this after three years with my degree unfinished. Because university credits expire after 8 years and I had completed three years of study before DNFing, I was forced to return to complete my BA in 2017-2018 or else I would have achieved no qualification whatsoever. I added extra courses to achieve a double major in English as well as the original Classics major I had started, as I had since begun a career in the creative media industry.

 

Because of the changes you have made to Fees Free this year, I would now be in a better position if I had not returned to complete my degree. That I have already achieved the BA part of the BA/LLB now disqualifies me from fees free.

 

Because I was not eligible for student allowance, I had to take student loan living costs which has almost maxed out my entitlement. Supposedly Studylink MAY grant me a loan extension, but they will not guarantee that they will fund my study until I have already embarked on it. I am reluctant to again be pushed into studying for a degree that I might not be even able to complete for reasons entirely outside of my control. I have 200 hours of unused student allowance entitlements, but this is unhelpful if I cannot finish the qualification I begin.

 

While the fees free final year arrangement provides an extra year of study to learners, extending the amount of funded EFTs available beyond the 7 years available under the student loan scheme to 8, this is not available at all to learners who have completed their qualifications already. This excludes me from finishing the double degree I began in 2013 and was unable to complete due to chronic mental illness.

 

I feel like I have fallen through the gaps around funding eligibility and help and support. I have a $70,000 student loan with only a degree I was upsold by my university and which I did not intend to rely on for my career when I began it. Although I changed my major when I returned in 2017 to make it more relevant for my non-law career, it is still not a particularly useful qualification in terms of attaining sustainable employment in the same way a law degree would be, and this pivot added a couple of courses to my student loan balance that are now counting against me. It seems hard to believe I would be prevented from completing the qualification I started due to a series of changing regulations around how studies are funded and how credits are counted towards qualifications.

 

Even if my study is funded for the two years I think I need to complete my degree, I will need to get approval/exemption from my former university as my credits are expired and some law credits were attributed to my BA. But currently I cannot even enquire about this because it doesn’t seem like the current system will support me finishing this simple and common course of study [a double degree], even if they do allow it.

 

I have been mostly self-employed since 2018, something necessary because of my industry and career choices, but this isn’t sustainable with my mental health issues. I wish to return to study so I can attain a more sustainable job, but the current tertiary funding system does not seem to support this.

 

I have copied in the newly created ministry of regulation because this also seems like something that may fall in their sphere (a series of ridiculous red tape regulations holding New Zealanders back).

 

I’d like to suggest the very easy equitable solution of extending final year fees free funding to all learners, not just first time learners, allowing everyone to access the extra EFTs New Zealanders can use to complete their post-secondary qualifications.

 

I hope someone can help with this situation as all I would like is to continue my life and return to being a productive and functioning member of society. I’ve found this quite a challenge with some of the funding changes that have been made to mental health, MSD and Whaikaha by your government, so if you could assist me out of this position in any way, that would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Warm regards,

 

Stephanie Cullen