Peter's “budget leak” Leaves Students Upset Once Again.

It took a bold Winston Peters on live-air to break the news that the government would be scrapping the fees-free scheme. The idea was first implemented under Dame Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Government at the beginning of 2018 and has since helped hundreds of thousands of students earn a year of free education.

Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, confirmed the comments made by Peters later that day, and while Chris Hipkins has not confirmed whether or not Labour would reintroduce it, the Greens party almost immediately launched a petition to reinstate the program.

Hundreds of outraged students immediately headed to social media to have their voices heard. One of those students was Nate Wilbourne, an eighteen-year-old environmentalist, youth advocate and two-time semi-finalist for young New Zealander of the year.

I was able to speak to Wilbourne not long after he appeared on the Breakfast Show to deliver his opinion to a live audience.

“I found out through a notification, I just saw the headline, Winston Peters, budget leak, fees free cut. My jaw quite literally hit the floor”, he said.

Wilbourne is in his first year at Victoria University, and he immediately went to his neighbours in halls, most of whom did not believe him at first. “I think what’s also pretty important to remember is that fees-free applies to trades education, so people who are in Polytech's for instance will also no longer benefit from this.”

The decision has been heartbreaking for many young New Zealanders who are already struggling financially. “A big thing for people who come from low-income backgrounds is the loss of an incentive, with fees free there is certainly less debt, and less fear of knowing as much.”

“I will tell you nine out of ten students would say this was part of the reason they decided to go to University.”

The new lack of an incentive may become a growing theme amongst New Zealand youngsters, with the job market still risky and getting riskier in many fields. “It’s funny to note that a lot of MPs went to University at a time when it was basically free, and now after going to University, they’ve kind of pulled any kind of incentive away.”

Wilbourne compared New Zealand’s tertiary education system to Sweden’s, with most Swedish students going to university for free. He does not believe this is unrealistic for us either. “Education is a public good, I don’t think any money ever spent on education is wasteful.”

Another point he brought up was, while bearing the brunt of the consequences, students are not the only people upset by the decision. “A lot of parents are pretty pissed off too, knowing that a lot of their children went into tertiary education with this in mind, now they’re feeling pretty let down.”

Some of these parents have contacted Wilbourne through his Instagram, @natewilbourne, where he recently shared a post in collaboration with Chloe Swarbrick asking students to sign a petition to reverse the decision.

We will not actually know the details around the decision until the government's official budget day on the 28th of May.

Thousands of students around the country are still uncertain on whether their decision to go to University based on this financial support will be there to help them when their turn arrives.

Many of these students would not have gone on to receive a tertiary education if not for the fees free scheme, and Wilbourne wants to remind everyone it is unfair if these people do not receive a year of free education.

Image: Breanna Tolbert, Dupe Photos.