Opposing views on stipends

Stipends are necessary for students, especially at tertiary education level. We’re at a stage where we have far more expenses than we ever did in our lives.

David Debono

Some students need it less than others. The stipend scheme should be changed to reflect this need- David Debono

Even though we don’t have bills and utilities to pay, there are still a lot of other expenses we incur – transport, school supplies, food, entertainment – and if we aren’t given some kind of financial assistance, students will be put in a position where they need to find other sources of income.

I’m not saying having a part-time job is bad, but if we don’t have financial assistance students could end up putting work before their education in an attempt to make ends meet.

I absolutely agree with the investment of money in the students. I would go one further to say that given the cost of living in today’s day and age, €80 monthly isn’t anywhere near enough. I understand that as we’re a small country we don’t have the means to increase this amount. Other countries in Europe give their students upward of €500 monthly, with the result that students are given more freedom and independence and they aren’t a financial burden to their parents.

I think all students should be entitled to a stipend. However, I do think some students need it less than others, based on their household income, and the stipend scheme should be changed to reflect this need. David Debono, BA (Hons) Communication, 3rd year.

Many say the best things in life are free. Free money is no exception. Being a student requires dedication and hard work; however, everybody appreciates a little something to sweeten the pot.

Ana Maria Vella

If stipends were to be removed, resources could be directed instead towards further developing the University to be world-class- Ana Maria Vella

Being an unemployed University student I find that the stipend comes in useful; however, it certainly does not cover my monthly expenses, hardly the bare minimum. Besides fuel, transport and the occasional stationery items there are many other expenses incurred every month, so the €80 is always eagerly welcomed by students, including myself.

Perhaps students abroad who have to pay for their tuition would consider this a luxury; some might even call us spoilt, which is something I believe we are. The stipend is useful as it may potentially lessen the financial burden on families that may really need it. I believe that is the only sensible ‘pro’ to the stipend.

However, there are also ‘cons’ to stipends. Stipends should only be granted to those who legitimately need them the most.

Government expenditure on stipends alone – supposedly €23 million a year – sets the proper allocation of necessary resources off at a tangent. It is necessary to re-think the distribution of these funds.

Stipends are perhaps one of the few things many Maltese university students are proud to gloat about. But certainly the majority wouldn’t boast about the organisation or the quality of lectures carried out.

If stipends were to be removed rather than dispersed among thousands of students, resources could be directed instead towards further developing the University to be world-class. Perhaps competence of University staff would be the biggest investment, as well as more funds to promote exchange and mobility programmes.

A financed learning experience abroad is an incentive for students to pursue post-secondary and tertiary education. But currently one has to bypass the bureaucratic obstacle course and insufficient budgets for these programmes.

The Nationalist Party believes stipends are still an incentive for students to pursue their studies, but if one looks at the number of students that start work immediately after secondary school, one realises that it is rather high.

On the other hand, many students who do pursue post-secondary and tertiary education still find it necessary to work in order to support themselves. Petty cash is not the reason to want to learn, but the prospect of what may follow after graduation.

The sustainability of stipends will become more questionable as the number of students rises. But if any party were to remove or reduce stipends it would risk political suicide. The parties have been playing a tug of war with stipends for far too long.

It is time for the parties to act on what constitutes long-term sustainability rather than to aim at gaining popularity votes.

The future of stipends remains in the balance. We can only hope for an outcome close to that of a win-win situation. Ana Maria Vella, BA (Hons) European Studies, 3rd year.

I support stipends completely. I think stipends are a great incentive for adolescents from lower to lower-middle income bracket families to continue their studies.

Rueben Zammit

I completely disagree with the PN’s stance that stipends should be held hostage to ‘supply and demand’ in industry- Rueben Zammit

I do not believe that for the vast majority of students the stipend is a substitute or supplement to a real salary, but serves as deterrent for many young people to enter the workforce immediately, usually as unskilled or semi-skilled labour, simply because the prospect of a penniless number of years rightly frightens them.

Stipends are there to permit students pay their travel expenses and, no less important, to have a social life as independent as possible from their parents, so up to a point, stipends are necessary and beneficial, even to adolescents from families slightly higher up the socio-economic scale.

That said, it is very disheartening to see some University students roll up on campus in their brand new shiny sports car in the knowledge that they are receiving as much as young people lower down the ladder.

In 2006, when stipends of €80 a month started to be given, this was a sufficient amount for post-secondary students but it was a pitiful amount for many University students with hopefully broadened socio-cultural horizons. In 2012, I doubt it suffices for post-secondary students and it is a ridiculous amount for tertiary level students.

I find the concept of different amounts for different courses depending on ‘industrial exigencies’ frankly laughable.

Firstly there’s the fact that many courses that are as ‘necessary for industry’ as others, such as the biomedical course, receive the lower amount.

Secondly, stipends are there for travel and recreational expenses and, not strictly for educational reasons, and all students have the same needs in this regard.

For these reasons I completely disagree with the PN’s stance that stipends should be held hostage to the idea of ‘supply and demand’ in industry.

Punishing a student for following his passion instead of bowing to pressure is simply outrageous.

The current system encourages hacks and quickly over-bloats certain courses believed to be in short supply of graduates. Students should not be enticed into following a course they do not feel a natural inclination to by the promise of more cash.

I’m not sure what the Labour Party’s stance on stipends is; I don’t believe they even have one.

Mr Zammit teaches English at Mcast. He graduated with a BA (Hons) in English from the University of Malta in 2009 and obtained an MA in English from Warwick University in 2011. Last October he started a part-time diploma course in journalism course at University.

Compiled by Noelene Scerri.