Saw TEU asking on their Facebook page whether a student auctioning their virginity was a sign of decreasing funding, but the prominence of the story is more of a sign of sensationalist reporting (me included – great excuse for a silly headline). For those who haven’t seen it yet, NZ Herald is reporting that the student received $45,000 for her virginity in an online auction, whcih she will use to fund her university tuition fees.

While everyone will have their own view on the morals of selling your virginity (I think it’s up to her), I’m actually surprised that this received so little comment from politicans and student representatives. The student getting married or becoming a prostitute to fund their studies is a perennial “funding gap” story. David Do of NZUSA has made some comments about it, but I haven’t seen any politicians get involved. The media, for its part, has been focusing mostly on the auction site’s policy when they’ve gone beyond the basics. I wonder if the stduent support story is still dead in the media, as it has been since interest-free loans came in.

Grant Robertson (Labour MP) was wondering yesterday about whether National would review student loans again. If they do, the story might liven up again and you can expect a lot more coverage of what students have to do to fund their studies.

Update: David Farrar is rightly questioning whether the auction was real here.