Miss Clark had to shout over the noise as she told the students the policy meant they would be borrowing less and would be able to move on more quickly from the costs incurred in getting tertiary education to set up their own homes and establish their careers.
"This policy is being phased in to ensure its affordability and is in line with Labour's determination to invest in the education and skills our country needs to drive growth and development."
From January 1, 2012, the Government would abolish the parental income test, at a cost of $210 million a year.
It was estimated more than 50,000 students, aged from 18 to 23, would receive increased support through student allowances by 2010.
"Most of these students would receive no allowance under the current rules, and need to borrow, receive help from their parents or work part-time to make ends meet."
About 10,000 received a partial allowance under current rules but, with Labour's policy, they would get an increase to a full allowance as the parental income threshold increased.
Nearly 20,000 were likely to be better off by 2010 and nearly 30,000 by 2011, with the total increasing to 50,000 by 2012.
Miss Clark was almost drowned out by the cheering and applause as she told the students Labour had made their tertiary education more affordable.
Measures had included removing student loan interest while studying from 2000, abolishing interest on loans altogether for people living in New Zealand from 2006, freezing tuition fees and then setting up a system of fee controls and making successive improve- ments to student allowance eligibility.
"At present, students are the only group in society expected to borrow for living costs. National created this situation in the 1990s and it has taken us a number of years to work our way back to a fair system of student support."
Her dream had always been to enable young people to have the kind of support her generation had when in full-time quality tertiary education, Miss Clark said.
Otago University Students Association president Simon Wilson welcomed the news and said it was good to see the moves towards a universal allowance.
"We have been moving in that direction for some time but the end is in sight. The partial testing is ridiculous. They did change the age to 24 but I don't know many 24-year-olds who rely on income support from their parents."
However, it was not a completely free ride for students, who would still have to borrow to pay their bills, he said.
Miss Clark was asked whether she thought she could live on $150 a week, as some students were now doing.
She said when she was a student, living on a small allowance and with parents trying to help out where they could, she did not have a record player or a motorbike.
She spent every week of every long holiday working to help pay her bills.
