Ryan Bridge: What was the point in Fees Free?

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge · Jan 28, 2026 · 1m · transcript

Reading this story this morning about Fees Free, you've got to wonder how the policy got through the boffins in Wellington.

It has, by all accounts, failed to achieve it's objective.

Did we see floods of people charging into lecture halls and studying at university? No.

Did we see loads of poorer students benefit? No.

What did it cost us, again? $2.6 billion. $350 million last year alone.

That's one and half brand new Dunedin hospitals.

This is what it got us:

No increase in participation. 230 students from poor schools were helped. That's 1.3%.

A whopping 70% of the kids who had their…