Normalisation of Debt

When I was a kid I had to save up for something before I could buy it. Why? Because my parents said so. Later in life, when it came to buying a house, I had to save for a deposit. Not only that, I had to be choosy about my first home – nothing grand, I didn’t have the cash.

Things have changed. New Zealand’s youth are being told something different, and not only from their parents. The business sector appears to advocate debt. In a recent TV advertisement a young man blithely states “no problem” when asked how he can afford his hot new car. He’s going to pay it off by flipping burgers.

It appears to be perfectly normal at age 18 to rack up $10,000 on a car and then pay interest, default insurance, booking fees and whatever else in order to have it now. Right NOW. Never mind that the car will be knackered in a couple of years with $6,000 still owing.

The Tertiary Education Sector advises us to ‘invest in our future’. They would like to think they are referring to the knowledge a student will gain through study. The reality is that a young student will enter working life with a $30,000 debt, and if you ask them they will say “It’s pretty normal.”

It is not acceptable for the government, through Universities, to continue to increase tertiary fees, further entrenching the normalisation of debt in our society. Part of the solution is for pathways from certificate and diploma level to be expanded, providing learners with work based qualifications a leg-up into Tertiary learning. Strategic funding for distance learning could also be developed. Such initiatives would help learners avoid the paying-it-off treadmill. Without a student debt graduates would be able to make immediate progress towards home ownership, continue to live in New Zealand and consider having a family before they reach the ‘now or never’ age. Massey University, as a leading provider of distance education, needs to be championing these issues.

As president of EXMSS I will be engaging with Massey University and the Tertiary Education Commission not only to improve the existing standards of extramural delivery but to advocate for increased access for all New Zealanders to tertiary education through distance learning.

My extramural study is my savings plan. Each night my part-time job; study, gains me a little more knowledge. When I graduate I am going to cash it in for a better job. There are still some years to go but when I get frantic I think back to my first radio. It took two years of saving. I bought it, at age 14, for $150.00. Almost thirty years later the radio is still going, now covered in garage grime. The last thing I remember hearing on it, last Sunday, was an ad for a 50 inch flat screen television, “Buy now, pay later. Normal conditions apply.”