An ACC policy change "significantly disadvantages" tertiary students with short-term injuries, by reducing academic support funding, a disability support group says.
Achieve, the National Post-Secondary Education Disability Network, has written to ACC, urging it to rectify "inappropriate changes" in ACC support for students with short-term injuries.
Achieve's Dunedin-based national president, Melissa Lethaby, said it was "abhorrent" that ACC was implementing a new policy which would have "such a detrimental effect" on students, despite acknowledging "only small savings" would be made.
Achieve had sought, under the Official Information Act, documents involving ACC's previous "Tertiary Student Support: Interim Policy".
Implemented in 2005, the earlier policy provided funding to meet academic support needs for students with short-term injuries, such as broken arms.
Ms Lethaby was "astounded" to read among the released documents that ACC could "achieve greater value for money" by better targeting the $6 million it spent annually for children and young people requiring help to participate in education.
Students at the University of Otago and elsewhere had previously received ACC funding in order to access note-taking services, and gain help with writing assignments, while recovering from short-term injuries.
The tertiary teaching period was 13 weeks per semester, and some students were likely to withdraw or fail their courses of study without ACC support.
A big increase in refusals of ACC funding for such students at several tertiary institutions throughout the country had been reported this year.
The Government's long-term tertiary education policy emphasised helping young people gain qualifications and good jobs, but a lack of ACC support could undermine this goal, she said.
ACC senior media adviser Glenn Donovan said ACC, under its educational support policy, could "consider providing help to tertiary students for specific, study-related tasks such as note-taking and writing exams", if injuries prevented students doing these things.
"A recent clarification of this policy to ensure consistent service delivery means that ACC targets help for specific, study-related tasks to students with more serious injuries and longer-term needs."
"Students with less serious injuries and shorter-term needs could generally arrange other appropriate solutions, such as borrowing notes, seeking extra time to complete essays, or applying for a non-exam based grade."
Help was considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the client's particular injury and circumstances.
"If students with shorter-term needs are unable to arrange appropriate solutions to these needs, then ACC will look at providing appropriate assistance," he said.
Donna-Rose McKay, head of service at Otago University disability information and support, said if ACC funding was lost for students with short-term injuries, this could "have an impact on the level of services that we can offer in some areas".
If such students did not get the learning support they required, their academic grades could be affected, as could their "opportunities to enter competitive-entry courses", Ms McKay said.
Last year, the support office had been involved with 71 students with short-term injuries.
ACC funding had been sought for learning support for 26 of these injured students.
ACC had supported 25 and declined one, she said.
