OPSA

Student demand for financial assistance and foodbank services has soared in Dunedin, with welfare schemes run by student associations at the university and polytechnic being pushed past their financial limits.

Newly-elected Otago Polytechnic Students Association (OPSA) 2011 president Michelle Fidow agrees she might have chosen a challenging year to become a student leader.

A tiny fraction of the Otago Polytechnic Students' Association membership has made a fundamental decision about its future.

Between them, the Otago University Students' Association and the Otago Polytechnic Students' Association collected more than $3.7 million this year from almost 30,000 members, but their revenue base could dry up overnight if Act New Zealand's Voluntary Student Membership Bill is passed. Tertiary education reporter Allison Rudd investigates whether the associations would survive.

Should they stay or should they go? That was the question about 40 Otago Polytechnic students and visitors gathered to discuss yesterday.

A referendum asking Otago Polytechnic students whether they support the student organisation withdrawing from its national association will be held this month.

Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce is reserving judgement on proposed voluntary student membership legislation until select committee hearings on the issue are over.

A private member's Bill which aims to ensure nobody is compelled to join a tertiary students' association would badly damage the interests of Dunedin tertiary students, student leaders said yesterday.

The Otago Polytechnic Students' Association may withdraw from its national parent body and go it alone.