For some students, fees free opened the door to further study but it wasn't enough
Saturday, 16 May 2026
The Government has scrapped the fees free scheme, saying it didn’t help those who really needed it. Why didn’t it work? And how could the $350 million better be used to help young people? Amy Ridout reports.
Siliala Wright used to “go with the flow”, but that all changed in year 11 when she decided to aim higher.
“I actually started coming to school. I started doing the work. Sometimes you have to step up and make a change.”
Now year 13, the Porirua College head girl has her eyes fixed on the future; a geography degree, followed by a career in construction.
Head boy Ezekiel Fuimaono, who put his hand up for leadership because he knew it would make his family proud, aims to study medicine at Otago University, a prospect he finds exciting and terrifying.
Read more:
'Sneaky and unfair’: Students respond to scrapping of fees free
Farewell fees-free: Labour won't commit to reinstating policy yet
To get there, they will both apply for every available scholarship. If that fails, they will turn to student loans, which will now be at least a third greater, thanks to the end of the fees free scheme.
Introduced by the Labour government in 2018, the scheme initially meant students got their first year of tertiary study free.
In 2024, this was shifted to the third year of study by the coalition Government, which have announced it will be scrapped after this year. This means current second-year students who missed out on getting their first year free, will now miss out altogether.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Newstalk ZB the scheme, which cost $350 million a year, was a “monumental failure, a huge waste of taxpayer money”, and hadn’t reached the students who most needed it.
And research appears to back this up, with a study of quarter of a million students concluding that lack of immediate funds was not the greatest barrier to education.
But for Fuimaono, the end of fees free meant “big changes”.
“It’s a big financial stress … and a discouragement, because I was relying on that. It makes me not want to go to university, but I want a better future.”
‘It took the pressure off’
Porirua College kaiāwhina tumuaki/assistant principal Georgina Walker said the fees free scheme was a game changer for her students.
The college is high on the Equity Index, which means many of its students face extra financial or social challenges.
Despite framing the loan as an investment, Walker said her students were intimidated by the idea of borrowing. This meant the scheme was particularly effective when the first year of study was free.
“It took the pressure off them … Once they got through the first year, they had a taste for it and were away.”
When it shifted to the third year, she saw a significant drop off.
Walker, who is also a careers advisor, does everything she can to help her students get scholarships for further study.
“Life is hard enough for our young people; we need to support them on this first step for their future.”
She urged the Government to introduce alternatives: perhaps expanding “youth guarantee” funding or increasing targeted scholarships.
Money not always enough
Auckland University of Technology researchers Lisa Meehan and Cristóbal Castro Barrientos followed 250,000 school leavers from the 2015 to 2019 cohorts.
Their research found the scheme had little impact on enrolment. It also didn’t narrow the equity gap.
“If anything over the policy period the gap between higher and lower decile schools widened,” Meehan said.
This was because students already have access to student loans, which removed the need to pay upfront for studies.
The research found that by the time young people get to the point of looking at further study, their futures are largely decided by their upbringing.
“Many inequalities have already done their work,” the study said. “Their decision has already been shaped by differences in school achievement, family resources, information about tertiary options, and the ability to delay paid work.”
A more cost effective solution could be better to target specific students: those who wouldn’t otherwise attend tertiary education, Meehan said.
“Whereas what actually happened with this policy is it was subsidising a lot of students who would have attended tertiary education in any case.”
Meehan sympathised with students who were counting on the scheme.
“I completely understand why students feel frustrated when the rules change, especially when they've made plans based on a policy that they thought would be there.”
And she acknowledged careers advisor Walker’s point: that the scheme really did work for some students.
But they were outliers, she said.
“Even if you're sort of quite generous and say, maybe it increased participation by 1000 students a year … that equates to $350,000 per student.”
Wendy Alabaster works at Karanga Mai Young Parents College, teaching maths and encouraging students into further study.
She has also researched the scheme, following 10 students over a year.
They were from low-income backgrounds, and had accessed the scheme when it applied to their first year.
“[The first free year] was essential to get them in the door and feel they could take a risk and engage in training.”
But she found simply funding a year wasn’t enough.
“Students … needed mentoring and pastoral care including how to navigate university and polytech life, and all the bureaucracy of applications.”
This was especially true of students who were first in their family or friend group to head into tertiary study.
Interventions needed to come earlier, Alabaster said. “Students need support at school … to help navigate the application process and encourage choices for study.”
Reshaped and repurposed
Responding to The Post, Minister for Tertiary Education Penny Simmonds said university tuition was already funded, more than 80% when interest-free loans were taken into account.
There were avenues to help students, like accessible student loans and means-tested student allowances. Some students would be eligible for other help with accommodation and hardship funding.
“We are ambitious for all New Zealanders, including young Kiwis and we encourage them into education, further training, or employment because of the long term benefit that gives to them as individuals, and to society.”
NZ First leader Winston Peters, who initially opposed ending the scheme, has said the $350 million saved each year would be channelled elsewhere.
“We are going to reshape and repurpose it for the trades and all sorts of industries where we do need it and where we can get a far better payback for our money and pay far less money doing it.”
The Post asked Simmonds if moving funding away from university education and into trades could result in skills gaps down the line.
She said the Tertiary Education Commission prioritised funding that supported the development of skills the Government has identified as important.
Government funding supported a wide range of study, “from work-based learning to post-doctoral qualifications”.
It’s unclear whether Labour would reinstate the scheme, with tertiary education spokesman Shanan Halbert tightlipped about his party’s commitment to reintroducing the policy, despite its years-long work to get it in place.
“We need to see what [National’s] plans for the fees free money are in more detail before we can make any commitments ourselves,” Halbert previously told The Post.
‘Never smooth, never easy’
The future can look intimidating to young people going out into the world, where living costs are high and jobs are few.
That’s especially true for Wright and Fuimaono’s cohort ‒ the latest Stats NZ data tells us that 14.4% of 15 to 24-year-olds are not in education or work. This is triple the rate of the rest of the workforce.
Fuimaono had watched his brother go through Trades Academy and then fail to find a job, forcing him into more training.
“The Government is talking about how people aren't working, but how can we get jobs?”
“I’m scared, not just for myself but for all my friends,” he said. “Some of them want to do uni, but they don't have the financial backup, or they have family problems.”
Wright said she was nervous and excited for the years ahead. She knew there would be speed bumps along the way, but felt able to face them.
“That's how life is. It's never smooth. It's never easy.”
The 17-year-old will continue to aim high, and hopefully, bring others along.
“Once you make it to the top, don't forget to support other people, that's how we're going to make it through. Just support each other.”