Universal Student allowance...

Cant find the other thread on it just yet but i am still strongly opposed to this.

Blatant vote buying from labour too, they give National shite for tax cuts and then fork over money to people who dont need it and often end up doing completely useless, fraudulent courses.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz-election-2008/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501799&objectid=10537245

buying votes - for sure

a good thing, in my view yes

Either they do it all or nothing, or on merit. I don't think it's fair any other way. Many 'rich' parents aren't rich, many demand that their kids become independent and don't give them a cent.

Should be attached to a minimum GPA

QFT. How many people does everyone know who spent five years at uni to do a three year degree and some piss-around papers?

R

this^^^

Grade point average? Do students have such things these days?

Bring back UE?

There's a system whereby
A+ = 9
A = 8
A- = 7
B+ = 6
B = 5
B- = 4
C+ = 3
C = 2
C- = 1

Given equal points per paper, if you had 2As, 2 Bs, and 2Cs you'd have (8+8+5+5+2+2)/6 = 5.0 GPA

About two people out of all the friends I had that went to Uni. A minority.

They could always limit it. You are allowed it for three years for a standard degree etc.

Anyway, should have brought this in years ago. At least pissing around at Uni doing papers is more productive than pissing around on the dole.

Vads do you suggest a flat allowance for people getting attaining a certain GPA, or increase/decrease depending on it?

I'd give everybody with a B- average and above the same GPA

You could work it into a de facto scholarship system though

how about leaving the parent means testing thing but raising the household income limit to 80k.

Also, students with a 75% or higher average over the length of their degree can have their fees wiped.Or maybe over 80%, I dont know how many people this would affect.

Also for the kids on allowance (its not hard to get one even with medium to well off folks, if u get them to sign the papers saying u are estranged/not living with them) get rid of the penalties for earning over a certain amount each week, from what i remember u get penalised for earning over 120 bucks if u have an allowance.. duh

I think a GPA linked system is a bit flawed because some degrees are not only much harder/easier than others, but also have completely different expectations. In Engineering you were doing fine if you managed to pass every paper. In Law, I remember my friend telling me he needed something like a B+ average just to get into year 2.

So will the engineering papers need to be made easier so that a B+ becomes the new required pass mark, or do we scale the GPA’s after or what? Also if someone has the ability to make it through an engineering degree, albeit with a C+ average, should they really be forced to mug this off and do a BSC instead so they can be sure of their B+ average and their government funding?

If you want free education it needs to be something like - everyone who makes the acceptance grade gets 1 bachelor level degree free. Just charge them for repeated papers.

Although personally even though I support government subsidising various things, I never like to see them totally free. People take the piss. Something like 4-5k a year is a pretty good balance. People won’t just do it for the hell for it, while at the same time people aren’t priced out of the picture. The UK’s NHS is a diabolical example, yeah it’s completely free to see a doctor - but you gotta wait a week for a fricken appointment!! Should be £10-£20 so people don’t go every time break a nail.