Medical students’ petition gets 19,000 signatures but no response from minister

The current limit of a Studylink student loan is seven EFTS (equivalent full time student), meaning a loan may be accessed for a maximum of seven years’ full-time study.

While seven years is ample time for most to complete their studies, postgraduate medical students require six years of study on top of their undergraduate degree. This may take eight or nine years in total.

About 150 medical students annually will need to come up with $15,000 a year in course fees to complete the last part of their degree.

Lachlan Cooper, a University of Auckland second-year medicine student, will be affected in his final year of study.

“We’re going to have to pay our fees, plus come up with extra money to live. It makes it pretty impractical for anybody really.

“I think it’s sending the wrong message to a lot of people who are considering going into medicine,” Mr Cooper says.

The New Zealand Medical Students’ Association began the petition on May 26, following the release of the 2015 Budget.

Alex Hedley, vice-president of the NSMSA, says the association has been trying to negotiate with the Government outside of the media since the announcement of the seven-year cap in 2011.

“From conversations the president had with [Finance Minister] Bill English, we were under the impression that it was going to be addressed in this Budget. That’s why we went ahead with the campaign.”

Rohit Katial, an Auckland representative of the NZMSA, says the response to the campaign has been huge, with the petition gaining 10,000 signatures on the first day.

Despite the public outcry, the NZMSA is still waiting for a response from Steven Joyce, Tertiary Education, Skills, and Employment Minister.

“We haven’t heard anything at all. The last comment that we heard was last Monday on the story that ONE News did,” said Mr Hedley.

Mr Katial said: “I’m personally quite dumbfounded. Minister Steven Joyce refuses to even reply to our emails and talk to us. He’s just completely ignored the problem.”

Sean Topham, president of the Young Nats, says the Young Nats supports the NZMSA campaign.

“What we’ve proposed is that the seven-year EFTS cap is extended to nine years for medical students,” Mr Topham says.

Mr Topham says he intends to initiate formal discussion with Minister Joyce on the matter.

“We think as a Government they’re doing a superb job, but obviously there are some areas we want them to do better in and this is just another one of them,” Mr Topham said.

A statement released to TWN by Mr Joyce’s press secretary says: “The minister has met and corresponded regularly with the NZMSA on this issue over the past few years.

“He has asked officials to keep him updated on the impact of the seven EFTS policy across the tertiary system and he will meet with NZMSA again if new data comes to hand.

“It’s important that interest-free loans are fair to both students and taxpayers who bear 40 per cent of the cost of every loan. Medical students earn the highest income of any student once they graduate.”

Mr Katial said medical students aren’t asking for a handout.

“Students are just starting to get really frustrated because we’ve tried everything. We just want to have a conversation,” Mr Katial said.