RNZ: Fees-free university scheme ‘didn’t achieve any goals’, Christopher Luxon says
RNZ: Fees-free university scheme ‘didn’t achieve any goals’, Christopher Luxon says
The fees-free university scheme did not achieve any of its goals, the Prime Minister says, and it is better to direct funding elsewhere.
The scheme had given university students their final year of study free, but Winston Peters last week revealed it would be scrapped in the Budget this month.
Christopher Luxon on Monday told Morning Report economic growth was key to making sure young people were successful in New Zealand.
He said the harsh reality was the scheme had been “quite a failure” and it was better to stop it and redirect some of that funding to trades training.
The government needed to make sure it was actually growing the economy.
“The fees programme is not working… it would be absolute insanity to support something that isn’t meeting its objectives,” he said.
Luxon said he wanted to put more support behind trades in New Zealand.
