Image description. Hot Off The Press. End of image description. Embargoed until 10:45am 18 December 2008 Student Loans and Allowances: 2007 Highlights There were 173,766 borrowers in 2007 (60 percent females and 40 percent males) up 4 percent from 167,400 in 2006. The average student loan leaving debt reached a high of $14,620 in 2006. For those that attended university, the average leaving debt was $20,180, 38 percent higher than the average for all students. Males had an average leaving debt of $15,370 in 2006, 9 percent higher than for females ($14,090). The total number of students receiving an allowance rose for the second year in a row, up 5 percent from 2006 to reach 61,230 in 2007. Males who left study in 2002 received an average income of $39,060 in 2007, 20 percent more than females ($32,680). The average income for those who left university in 2002 was $45,440 in 2007, 27 percent more than the average of $35,650 for all students. The proportion of debt repaid within five years decreased from 22 percent for 2001 leavers to 21 percent for 2002 leavers. The percentage of students who fully repaid their loan on leaving study decreased to 11 percent in 2006, down from 12 percent in 2005. Geoff Bascand Government Statistician 18 December 2008 ISSN 1178-0665 See also Student Loans and Allowances: 2007 Media release.
Commentary Borrowing and leaving debt Borrowing and leaving debt increases The number of students borrowing in a year under the student loan scheme reached a high of 173,766 in 2007, up 4 percent from 167,400 in 2006. This increase occurred despite a slight drop in total students enrolled, from 503,499 in 2006 to 500,355 in 2007. Of students enrolled in 2007, 35 percent received some form of financial assistance through the student loan scheme. This trend shows an increasing proportion of borrowers, from the low of 30 percent in 2005. The average amount borrowed in a year by students has generally increased gradually over time. In 2007 the average amount borrowed was $6,790, up 3 percent from $6,610 in 2006. The average leaving debt also increased 1 percent, from $14,530 in 2005 to $14,620 in 2006. Males who left study in 2006 had an average leaving debt of $15,370, 9 percent higher than the average of $14,090 for all females. This continues the general upward trend in average student loan leaving debt recorded since 1992, as shown in the graph below. Average leaving debt is consistently higher for those who attended university than across all provider types, for both males and females. University students had an average leaving debt of $20,180 in 2006, 38 percent more than the average for all students combined. This figure shows that university students generally study for longer periods and at higher levels compared with students from other provider types. Males who left study from university also had a larger leaving debt than females, with an average of $21,520 compared with $19,210 for females. Two recent policies, the fee stabilisation policy from 2001 to 2003, and the fee and course costs maxima policy from 2004, have restricted fee increases by providers. 2
More female borrowers For every year from 1995, there have been more female than male borrowers. In 2007, 60 percent of borrowers were female compared with 40 percent who were male. This proportion is larger than for those in the total enrolled tertiary student population, which is composed of 54 percent females and 46 percent males. Of students enrolled in 2007, 38 percent of females availed of the student loan scheme, compared with 31 percent of males. Since 1994, the proportion of enrolled males and females who borrowed was similar until 2003 when females began to borrow in proportionally larger numbers. Note that some students do not borrow because they are ineligible. The Ministry of Education calculates that 66 percent of those eligible to borrow in 2007 did so. Males borrow more a comparison from 2000 Although there were more female borrowers, males have borrowed more, on average, than females since 2000 across all qualification levels and provider types. The greatest difference in total borrowing in a year was in 2003 when males borrowed an average of 17 percent more than females. Since then, the difference has been between 10 and 12 percent, with males borrowing an average of 10 percent more than females in 2007. Females borrow slightly more for living costs, but the difference in male and female borrowing is entirely due to males borrowing more, on average, for course fees, as seen in the following graph. 3
Allowances Total number of allowance students continues to increase The total number of tertiary students receiving an allowance increased 5 percent from 58,188 in 2006 to 61,230 in 2007. In 2007, 12 percent of students enrolled received an allowance. This is the second year in a row that there has been an increase in the number of students receiving an allowance since numbers began falling in 2002, and likely reflects the adjustments made to the parental income threshold in 2005, 2006 and 2007. However, the average amount of allowance received decreased slightly from $6,580 in 2006 to $6,550 in 2007. Proportion of female allowance recipients increases For every year since 2000, there were more female than male allowance recipients. Between 2000 and 2002 the proportion of male and female allowance recipients was similar (51 percent for females and 49 percent for males). From 2003 onwards, the proportion of female allowance recipients increased. By 2007, 54 percent of allowance recipients were female compared with 46 percent who were male, the same proportions as in the student body. 4
In 2007, students who borrowed and received an allowance borrowed an average of $6,100. This figure is 14 percent less than the average of $7,080 borrowed by students who had a loan but did not receive an allowance. Income Small increases in income In 2007, the average income one year after leaving study was $29,410 for 2006 leavers, 1 percent higher than the average income of $29,080 in 2006 for 2005 leavers. The average fiveyear post-study income for 2002 leavers was $35,650, 1 percent higher than the average of $35,320 for 2001 leavers. Gap between male and female income widens In 2007, males received an average income of $31,560 after they had left study in 2006, almost 13 percent more than female leavers, who had an average income of $27,910. There was a smaller gap in income one year after leaving study for those who left study in 2002, at 6 percent. Five years later in 2007, however, with male income increasing 49 percent and female income increasing 33 percent, this gap increased to 20 percent. In 2007, males earned an average income of $39,060 compared with $32,680 for females. This trend is consistent across all fields of study, levels, and providers. The difference became more pronounced in 2007 because the average female income five years after leaving study decreased slightly from 2006, while male income increased 2.4 percent. Students who left study from university in 2006 received an average income of $35,980 in 2007, 22 percent higher than the average for all students. Male university leavers also received a higher income than females. In 2002, males received an average income of $31,790 one year after leaving university study, which was 5 percent higher than the average female income of $30,210. Five years later this gap had increased to 21 percent, with males who left in 2002 receiving an average of $50,240 in 2007 compared with the average of $41,400 received by females. The average for all leavers was $45,440. Note that income information does not distinguish between those who did or did not complete their qualification, nor hours worked by males and females. 5
Image description. Average income one year and five years post-study by year of leaving study and sex. End of image description. Repayments Proportion of debt repaid within five years decreases over time Borrowers who left study in 2002 had repaid an average of 21 percent of their leaving debt in five years, from $13,210 in 2002 to $10,490 in 2007. This proportion is lower compared with those who left study in 2001, who had repaid 22 percent. This difference between the 2001 and 2002 leaving cohorts could likely be due to the interest-free student loan policy for borrowers living in New Zealand, which was introduced in 2006. The 2008 student loan scheme annual report published by the Ministry of Education also showed that the announcement and introduction of this policy was associated with a reduction in the level of loan repayments. The proportion of debt repaid within five years of leaving study has decreased over time, mainly driven by students who left study from universities, institutes of technology and polytechnics, and colleges of education. Leavers from these providers between 2001 and 2002 also showed a decrease in the proportion of debt repaid within five years of leaving study, possibly due to the interest-free student loan policy in 2006. Students who left university in 2002 had repaid 25 percent of their student loan debt after five years ($17,980 in 2002 down to $13,470 in 2007). This compared with 21 percent for all students. 6
The comparatively high proportion of debt repaid in earlier years reflects the number of years available in which people could borrow, as well as the lower course fees in these years. The student loan scheme began in 1992; therefore, those leaving study in the earlier years had fewer years of borrowing to repay than those leaving in later years. The average debt five years after leaving study was $11,240 for males who left study in 2002 and $9,840 for females. Females have consistently repaid slightly more of their loan five years after leaving study than males, with male borrowers who left study in 2002 having repaid 20 percent of their loan by 2007, while females had repaid 21 percent of their loan over the same period. Decrease in full repayment on leaving study in 2006 The percentage of students who fully repaid their loan on leaving study decreased from 12 percent in 2005 to 11 percent in 2006, and may reflect the introduction of the interest-free student loan policy for borrowers living in New Zealand. Students who left university also showed a decrease in full repayment upon leaving study, with the percentage decreasing from 13 percent in 2005 to 11 percent in 2006. The percentage of all students who fully repaid on leaving study increased from a low of 2 percent in 1996 to reach 12 percent in 2005, with a marked increase occurring in 1997. There was no noticeable change in behaviour from 2001 when the zero interest while studying policy was introduced. Males more likely to fully repay on leaving study The percentage of males and females who fully repaid on leaving study was similar between 1992 and 2004 (less than one percentage point difference). However, a slightly higher percentage of male borrowers who left study in 2005 and 2006 had fully repaid their debt on leaving study (12 percent in 2006) compared with females (10 percent in 2006). 7
Full repayment of loan within five years of leaving consistent since 1996 Just over a third of borrowers (34 percent) who left study in 2002 had fully repaid their student loan five years later in 2007 (14,244 of 41,610 borrowers). This is consistent with borrowers who left study each year between 1996 and 2001. Between 1992 and 1995 the higher percentage of borrowers who had fully repaid their student loan within five years of leaving study was partly due to the number of years available in which people could borrow, and the lower debt these groups had incurred. Since the introduction of the student loan scheme, a similar percentage of males and females fully repaid their loan within five years of leaving study. Around 34 percent of males who left study in 2002 had fully repaid their debt within five years, compared with 35 percent of females. For definitions please refer to the glossary in the technical notes of this Hot Off The Press. For technical information contact: Katy Stokes Wellington 04 931 4749 Email: info@stats.govt.nz Next release... Student Loans and Allowances: 2008 will be released in December 2009. 8
Technical notes Key official statistics This release includes official statistics on: borrowing in a year leaving debt allowance received in a year repayments income after leaving study borrowers who have repaid their loan in full. Student loans and allowances: background Statistics New Zealand s integrated data on student loans and allowances links educational information from the Ministry of Education (MoE) with borrowing and allowance information from the Ministry of Social Development (StudyLink), and income and repayments information from Inland Revenue. It allows the educational characteristics of student loan borrowers and student allowance recipients to be linked with the details of their loans, allowances and income. This release supplements information in the Student Loan Scheme Annual Report: October 2008, published by the MoE in December 2008. Statistics NZ links new data that is supplied annually from the MoE, StudyLink and Inland Revenue to take advantage of improvements in data quality. It has also improved linking methodology with the availability of the national student number information. This means that all data in previous releases has been revised. Time periods covered by this release This release provides statistics from the earliest point at which information is available. Due to the nature and sources of data, statistics start from different years: 1992 Leaving debt, debt five years post-study, and full repayment information is available for those who left study from 1992 onwards. 1995 Income information is only available from 1995 onwards. 1997 Information on ethnicity, field of study, level of study, and provider type is only available from 1997 onwards. 2000 The amount borrowed in loans or received in allowances in a particular calendar year is only available from 2000 onwards. The most recent data available for this release is for 2007. This reflects the time required to include income data for salary and wage earners and for those who are self-employed. Average debt refers to the average student loan debt, and results from borrowing under the student loan scheme. It does not include bank overdrafts, personal bank loans, loans from parents and family, credit card debt, or hire purchases. 9
Glossary Economic variables Amount borrowed / Amount received: The amount borrowed or received by a student in a particular calendar year (not the total amount borrowed by the student over all years of study). Leaving debt: The total debt still owing in March following the last year of study, including any repayment the student may have made during study. This includes those who had $0 debt on leaving. For example, if a student last studied in 2001, their leaving debt is their debt in March of 2002. This data will always be a year behind the release date. For example, in the 2007 dataset on student loans and allowances, leaving debt data is only available for those who left study up to 2006 and did not return the following year. Debt five years post-study: The total debt still owing in March five years after the last year of study, including any repayment made up to this time. This includes those who had $0 debt five years post-study. For example, for those who last studied in 2002, their debt five years post-study is their debt remaining in March 2008. Income one year post-study: The taxable income earned in the tax year after leaving study. This excludes those with $0 income. For example, for those students who left study in 2002, their one year post-study income is that in the 2003/04 tax year. Income five years post-study: The taxable income earned in the tax year five years after leaving study. This excludes those with $0 income. For example, for those students who left study in 2002, their five-year post-study income is in the 2007/08 tax year. 10
Demographic characteristics Age group: the person's age at 1 July in the reference year in the table. Ethnic group: data for the years before 2000 are sourced from the MoE, and assign each individual to one ethnic group only. For those who identified with more than one ethnic group this allocation was based on the following order of priority: Māori, Pacific peoples, Asian, Other, European. For example, if a student loan borrower identified as both Samoan and European, then they were assigned to the Pacific peoples ethnic group. Subsequently, unprioritised ethnicity data began to become available, from StudyLink (from 2000 onwards) and the MoE (from 2001 onwards), and where available this unprioritised ethnicity data has been used. The data from both sources may include up to three ethnicities for each individual, meaning that figures relating to 2000 may reflect identification with as many as three different ethnic groups per student, and those from 2001 as many as six different ethnic groups per student. From 2001 onwards, unprioritised ethnicity data are available for nearly all borrowers. In a small number of cases, where unprioritised ethnicity data are not available, the older prioritised MoE ethnicity data have been used. The change from prioritised to unprioritised ethnicity data will affect ethnic group comparisons relating to borrowers in 1997 and 2007. Tables spanning the 1997 to 2007 period will reflect a combination of prioritised and unprioritised ethnicity data. Leaving cohort: The year of leaving is determined by the last year an enrolment record is available. Given that some students may return after taking a break from study, leaving cohorts for more recent years may overstate the number of leavers. Study-related variables Leaving year: the last year of study for a student, which does not distinguish those who completed their qualification from those who did not. For example, if a student last studies in 2001, then the student is considered to have left study in 2001 and their leaving year is 2001. Field of study, level, and provider type during the student's last year of study were assigned to their debt, income and repayment. Level of study: the qualification(s) for which the student was enrolled. This does not distinguish those who completed their qualification from those who did not. A student can be enrolled in more than one level of study, therefore they can be counted in more than one level in the table. Field of study: The New Zealand Standard Classification of Education of the field(s) of study, or subject of a programme of study, in which the student was enrolled. A student can be enrolled in more than one field of study, therefore they can be counted in more than one field in the table. Field of study includes all levels of study, and does not distinguish those who completed their qualification from those who did not. Provider type: the type of education provider at which the student was enrolled. A student can be enrolled in more than one provider type, therefore they can be counted in more than one provider type in the table. This does not distinguish those who completed their qualification from those who did not. 11
Definitions of individual provider types are outlined below. University a public tertiary education institution that is primarily concerned with advanced learning and knowledge, research, and teaching to a postgraduate level. Institute of technology a synonym for polytechnic. Polytechnic a public tertiary institution that is characterised by a wide diversity of vocational and professional programmes. Polytechnics are now referred to as institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITPs). College of education a tertiary education institution that provides training and research, mostly related to early childhood, compulsory and post-compulsory education. From January 2007, the last two remaining colleges of education merged with local universities. Wānanga a public tertiary institution that provides programmes with an emphasis on the application of knowledge regarding ahuatanga Māori (Māori traditions) according to tikanga Māori (Māori custom). Other tertiary education providers (OTEPs) organisations that deliver programmes of tertiary education or in support of tertiary education of some national significance, and are recognised by the Minister of Education under section 321 of the Education Act 1989. In this release, OTEPS have been included with private training establishments. Private training establishments (PTEs) defined in the Education Act 1989 as 'an establishment, other than a public tertiary education institution, that provides post-school education or vocational training'. PTEs include not only privately owned providers, but also those operated by iwi, trusts and other organisations. Loan and allowance categories of students The diagram above (not to scale) shows the financial support options available to students. The dataset used in this release only includes students with a loan and/or an allowance. 12
Integrated dataset The statistics in this release were produced using a database of student loans and allowances, and tertiary education data held by Statistics NZ. An important component of the database is an integrated dataset on student loan borrowers and allowance recipients, which was created by linking administrative records from a number of government agencies: individual students tertiary enrolment data from the MoE individual students borrowing data from the now-defunct student loan account manager (SLAM) provided by Inland Revenue and the MoE individual students borrowing and allowance data (from 1999 onwards for allowances, and 2000 onwards for loans) from StudyLink, a service of the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) individuals repayment and income data from Inland Revenue. The integrated dataset contains data on the loans of students who borrowed under the student loan scheme. It has recently been updated to include data for 2007. The integrated dataset is the only data source that links information on borrowers and allowance recipients' income, debt, and repayment with their enrolment details and other characteristics. It includes information on borrowing and allowances, and links records over time, making it a single integrated data source from which to provide statistics for strategic policy and financial analysis. Differences between all student loan borrowers and those in this release Users should be aware that official statistics on student loans are also published in the annual report of the student loan scheme, published each year by the MoE, and in other MoE reports. The official statistics on student loan borrowers included in this Hot Off The Press may differ from statistics published in the annual report. This is because the source administrative data was provided to Statistics NZ at a specified cut-off date, which differs from the one used for the annual report. In addition, the tables in this release use different populations from those in the annual report, and different concepts for those populations. For example, the data on leaving debt produced by Statistics NZ includes those who leave study with $0 leaving debt (having repaid their loan while studying), whereas MoE may exclude those who leave with $0 debt. The use of probabilistic matching significantly increased the percentage of student loan borrowers whose information was included in the integrated dataset. However, some types of student loan borrowers were still under represented, even after both stages of matching were completed. Due to the absence of data from the MoE's dataset on students attending PTEs before 2000, the link rate of PTE students prior to 2000 was around 30 percent. From 2000 onwards, the link rate rose to 91 percent. 13
More information For further information regarding the history of the dataset, matching methodology and student loans policy list, please see Student Loans and Allowances: 2005, available on the Statistics NZ website. Copyright Information obtained from Statistics NZ may be freely used, reproduced, or quoted unless otherwise specified. In all cases Statistics NZ must be acknowledged as the source. Liability While care has been used in processing, analysing and extracting information, Statistics NZ gives no warranty that the information supplied is free from error. Statistics NZ shall not be liable for any loss suffered through the use, directly or indirectly, of any information, product or service. Timing Timed statistical releases are delivered using postal and electronic services provided by third parties. Delivery of these releases may be delayed by circumstances outside the control of Statistics NZ. Statistics NZ accepts no responsibility for any such delays. 14
Tables The following tables are printed with this Hot Off The Press and can also be downloaded from the Statistics New Zealand website in Excel format. If you do not have access to Excel, you may use the Excel file viewer to view, print and export the contents of the file. 1. Average student loan leaving debt, for students who left study in a given year, by selected variables, 1992 2006 2. Average student loan debt five years post-study, for students who left study in a given year, by selected variables, 1992 2002 3. Average income one year post-study, for students who left study in a given year, by selected variables, 1995 2006 4. Average income five years post-study, for students who left study in a given year, by selected variables, 1992 2002 5. Percentage of all students who borrowed in year, by sex, 2000 2007 6. Percentage of borrowers in year, by sex, 1992 2007 7. Percentage of allowance recipients in year, by sex, 2000 2007 8. Total number of enrolments in year, by sex, 1992 2007 9. Percentage of students enrolled in year, by sex, 1992 2007 10. Student financial support, for students who received a loan and/or an allowance, by sex, 2000 2007 11. Student financial support, for students who received a loan and/or an allowance, by loan and allowance components, and sex, 2000 2007 12. Student loan leaving debt fully repaid and outstanding, for students who left study in a given year, by selected variables, 1992 2006 13. Student loan debt fully repaid five years post-study and outstanding, for students who left study in a given year, by sex, 1992 2002 14. Student financial support, for students who only borrowed, by sex, 2000 2007 15. Student financial support, for students who both borrowed and received an allowance, by sex, 2000 2007 15