5:25 pm today

People receiving pension sacrificing basics to pay off student loans

From Checkpoint, 5:25 pm today

"Dinner or debt"; that's the choice some people receiving the pension say they're forced to make after taking on student loans later in life. One Taupo woman says she's still got a $58,000 student loan, from a business degree two decades ago. Her super's now being docked to pay the debt and she says she's sacrificing the basics just so she can pay for rent and power. It's prompted calls for better guidelines on student loan eligibility and better communication between Inland Revenue and older students. Bella Craig reports.