For the first time, the government has paid for first-year university students and trainees' course fees, but does that mean they've taken a "flag year?"
Otago University student Hamish thinks so: "There is still the incentive to get into second year, obviously, but the pressure is off a little bit, I think."
But first year Māori Studies and Law student Jayda disagrees. "Just knowing … people are paying for me, I feel like I have to really try to give back to them."
In the latest episode of video series Beyond the Beehive, reporter Max Towle and cameraperson Luke McPake ask a range of Otago students what impact the coalition government's flagship tertiary education policy has had.
They also visit Lincoln High School to speak to two Year 13 students about to step into the daunting new world of tertiary education.
Watch here: