After a string of previous cuts to student support, Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce announced in this year's Budget that student allowances would be restricted to 120 weeks for over-40-year-olds. Ministry of Social Development (MSD) figures, supplied under the Official Information Act, showed, as of the end of July, 783 over-40-year-olds had been receiving the allowance for more than 120 weeks.
Of the 783, 21 were students at Otago Polytechnic and 19 at University of Otago.
While the changes do not kick in fully until 2015, the MSD figures give an idea of how many students will no longer be eligible under the new rules.
The fact relatively small numbers would be affected meant the Government would not make large savings. Instead it was likely Mr Joyce was driven by ''ideology'' and wanted to ''tighten'' access to education, Ms Woods said.
Otago Polytechnic Students' Association president Rebecca Swindells was not surprised polytechnic students were represented more than Otago University students in the figures ''We have more mature students than the university has and that has always been the case,'' Ms Swindells said.
She had already spoken to students who were going to pull out of courses, because they could no longer afford to study under the new rules.
''It's going to stop people over 40 from retraining, especially people that have been made redundant during the recession.''
The change would also have a disproportionate effect on women, who were the majority of mature students.
Mr Joyce said the change was not ''ideological'' but was about reducing the cost of student support, which had ballooned to $649 million in 2011-12, to a more sustainable figure.
''The changes are not remotely ideological. They are simply practical sensible approaches to balancing the Government's budget. Ms Woods is acting as ... if there is no limits to government funding and the money tree is still growing at the bottom of the garden,'' he said.
Students aged over 40 still had access to allowances for three years and after that could borrow interest-free from the student loan scheme.
