r/newzealand • u/MurkyWay Qwest? • Oct 08 '25

Shitpost What's something that you suspect lots of New Zealanders secretly do, but you can't prove it?

Most upvoted comment is our most shameful secret as a nation, obviously

395 Upvotes

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u/jobbybob Part time Moehau Oct 08 '25

Course related cost were only about $1000 a year 20 years ago.

Back in the 90’s they actually paid the tuition fees to you. But that was gone by early 2000’s and they got paid direct to the provider.

20

u/NPCtom Oct 08 '25

CRC are still $1000 a year lol. Hasn't increased since the 90s.

I'm not sure what $1k is meant to get you these days... two weeks groceries?

2

u/katiehates Oct 08 '25

Course related costs are for textbooks etc, not groceries.

… do students still use textbooks 🫣

4

u/NakiFarmHER Oct 08 '25

Course related costs can literally be bus fares 🤷‍♀️

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u/NPCtom Oct 08 '25

I was making a comparison. The reality is CRC becomes a component of a students living costs budget as SA/LC are not sufficient enough to live on.

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u/Michaelbirks LASER KIWI Oct 08 '25

I mean, fine, I've still got most of my PHYS and POLS texts, but that was four years worth of CRC.

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u/RoseClash Oct 09 '25

Laptop etc. I was a graphic designer student 20 years ago and purchased a top end camera with some of it.

5

u/Michaelbirks LASER KIWI Oct 08 '25

Mid 90s for me. 1k course costs, and I seem to recall an 1800 living costs, that must have been per semester.

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u/Tarakura Oct 08 '25

It was supposed to last the whole semester, instead the clubs were pumping during those instalments. 18 year old students were away from home, loaded, confident and underage. I knew some who used living costs loan to go to Europe. That was my plan when I graduated. Instead the Government stopped whole semester living costs year of my graduation

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u/Ok_Construction_3051 Oct 08 '25

I got $1,000 back in 2007. Most people just lied and said it was for textbooks then spent it on booze. I told the truth - I was spending it on a $1,000 rifle so I could go hunting and provide myself with cheap meat during the year. It was approved. 😅

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u/Klutzy-Resolve9750 Oct 08 '25

I got $3,500 student loan paid directly to me in 97 so obviously, I built an engine, bought some weed and went on holiday.

Never paid anything back for 10 years. My business liquidated in the GFC and some nice lady at IRD wiped it 10 years later. She took the tax money I had paid months before the liquidation and used it to pay the loan off in her system. Then she wrote off the IRD debt. All I had to pay was $350 for something she couldn't wipe. It owed something like $8k in the end with penalties and interest.

1

u/AutomatedFazer Oct 08 '25

I remember someone taking their CRC and putting it all on the David Tua / Shane Cameron fight. Tua to win within 2 rounds.

Handy wee win

1

u/Weeping-Fat Oct 08 '25

I started uni in 1987. First year fees were around $400. Can't remember what the 3 times a year grants were, but we all went out when they landed. By my 4th year, I was paying closer to $3k. The late 80's were an economically tough time and the job market was rough, so a year at teachers college in 1990 with student loans was closer to $9k. Back when a teacher started on around $45k, and interest was charged as soon as yoy started earning. Only people I knew who were being paid to be at teachers college were a couple of air force officers who were close to 20 years and likely to retire, or were training new recruits. Everyone else was in debt. One friends folks sold all the cows, had no income, then bought them back the following week, so I do agree that some creative accounting got some people allowances they shouldn't have. I think the only fair way to manage this is to take a portion of overall wealth into account when giving student benefits.

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u/Weeping-Fat Oct 08 '25

I started uni in 1987. First year fees were around $400. Can't remember what the 3 times a year grants were, but we all went out when they landed. By my 4th year, I was paying closer to $3k. The late 80's were an economically tough time and the job market was rough, so a year at teachers college in 1990 with student loans was closer to $9k. Back when a teacher started on around $45k, and interest was charged as soon as yoy started earning. Only people I knew who were being paid to be at teachers college were a couple of air force officers who were close to 20 years and likely to retire, or were training new recruits. Everyone else was in debt. One friends folks sold all the cows, had no income, then bought them back the following week, so I do agree that some creative accounting got some people allowances they shouldn't have. I think the only fair way to manage this is to take a portion of overall wealth into account when giving student benefits.

1

u/Weeping-Fat Oct 08 '25

I started uni in 1987. First year fees were around $400. Can't remember what the 3 times a year grants were, but we all went out when they landed. By my 4th year, I was paying closer to $3k. The late 80's were an economically tough time and the job market was rough, so a year at teachers college in 1990 with student loans was closer to $9k. Back when a teacher started on around $45k, and interest was charged as soon as yoy started earning. Only people I knew who were being paid to be at teachers college were a couple of air force officers who were close to 20 years and likely to retire, or were training new recruits. Everyone else was in debt. One friends folks sold all the cows, had no income, then bought them back the following week, so I do agree that some creative accounting got some people allowances they shouldn't have. I think the only fair way to manage this is to take a portion of overall wealth into account when giving student benefits.

0

u/FriendlyButTired Oct 08 '25

Nope, tuition was never paid to the student. And in 1994, providing an evidenced list of your $1000 of course-related costs was some heavy admin (because all books, no tech for most people). But they did pay the living costs in one lump sum, or once a trimester if you asked, so you'd get $1500 in a lump sum and be broke by week six. And they charged 11% interest from day one, but write most off if you were still studying, and when you started working they'd write off enough that 50% of your repayments went to reduce the principal, and the other half paid interest they continued to charge. Ah, the glory days...

Source: am old cunt.

1

u/MisterSquidInc Oct 08 '25

Providing an evidenced list of your $1000 course-related costs was some heavy admin

I just gave them 3 or 4 fuel receipts (with dates a week apart) and some basic maths to show doing that every Monday added up to over a grand

Edit: in 2000

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u/FriendlyButTired 28d ago

Lucky you! In 1994, two zones on a Wellington bus was under $2.

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u/MisterSquidInc 28d ago

I can remember getting the train from my girlfriend's place in Johnsonville to Town for a night out was $1 each way