Changes in Student Allowances in 2007
The number of student allowances recipients rose by 5 percent in both 2006 and 2007 reaching 62,500 in 2007. These increases followed a period of falling uptake.
Author: Central Forecasting and Modelling Unit [Ministry of Education]Date Published: December 2008
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- Background
- Recent Changes
- Allowances recipients by allowance type
- Allowances recipients by age group
- Allowances recipients by gender
- Allowances recipients by residency
- Allowances recipients by main ethnic group
- Student allowances by marital status
- Student allowances by parental status
- Allowances recipients by provider type1
- Personal income
- Accommodation benefit
- Weeks with allowances
- Allowances and loan recipients
Accommodation benefit
The proportion of accommodation benefit recipients among student allowances holders is quite high. It reached a maximum of 79 percent in 2004. It dropped by 2 percent in 2005, by 1 percent in 2006 and by a further 2 percent in 2007. The drop in accommodation benefit uptake since 2004 was highest for couples with one or both partners eligible for allowances (6 percent and 4 percent respectively) and for students aged 25 and over (2 percent). The uptake in accommodation benefit for students under the age of 25 stayed at approximately the same level of 64 percent since 2004.
Figure 12: Uptake in accommodation benefit, 2005-2007
A decrease in the accommodation benefit uptake rate observed since 2004 can be attributed to ‘fixed’ accommodation benefit rates for different categories of students (they have not been adjusted annually by CPI as has the main student allowance). The drop in accommodation benefit uptake may mean that students are more likely to continue living with their parents during their tertiary study than to live away from home.
The average annual accommodation benefit was about $900 in 2004. It increased to nearly $1,000 in 2005 and to $1,100 in 2007.