This report presents the results of a study on the effects of different types of financial aid, provided through the student support system, on educational outcomes of students participating in tertiary study. The types of student support looked at included the student allowances and student loan schemes. This support is provided to improve access to tertiary education and reduce the social disparity arising out of education benefits.
Key Results
- Student support is designed to remove financial barriers to tertiary education. The results of this study seem to suggest that student support system helps people succeed in study and so helps provide equity to some extent.
- Full-time students who either receive student allowances or use the student loan scheme are likely to benefit from the support system – they achieve better in tertiary education, controlling for all other factors.
- Those who qualify for student allowances tend to do better in their tertiary study, especially among those who studied at bachelors level and those who were non-employed or household person before starting their tertiary studies.
- While receiving allowances is associated with a greater probability of successful completion, changes to the student support system since the period analysed mean that caution is needed in drawing policy conclusions from this study. In addition, the explanatory power of the model used in this analysis implies that other factors not captured in the model – such as family background for instance – are also important factors in success in tertiary education.
- The effect of student support on completion was more pronounced for Māori – Māori who receive allowances or who borrow using the loan scheme are significantly more likely to succeed in their tertiary studies than those who do not receive student support.
- A literature review on this topic indicated that socio-economic factors have a strong influence on the probability of successful completion of qualification. Adding factors such as individual background characteristics and parental education to the model to control for the effect of socio-economic status may throw more light on the effect of support system on educational outcomes.