Adult learners are having their access to student allowances slashed, as a series of law changes come into effect.
From 1 January, students aged over 40 can only claim an allowance for a total of three years, down from five, and those over the age of 65 won't be able to claim any at all.
The Union of Student Associations says the Government is signalling that it doesn't care about adult learners and it has been inundated with calls from people over 40 worried about the changes.
Executive director Alistair Shaw says the cuts are an obstacle for people who need to retrain, but have already used up their three years of allowance.
"It's an attack on life-long learning. They're saying that there are some people who are less worthy than others - 18 to 24-year-olds matter and no one else does. That's a terrible approach."
Labour and the Green parties have criticised the cuts. Labour's tertiary education spokesperson Grant Robertson says it is making it more difficult for people to retrain and the Government has its priorities wrong.
"We have a lot of people who've lost their jobs in recent years after the global financial crisis. This is the time for the Government to be investing - helping those people get new skills and seeing them go into new careers.
"Once upon a time the National Party believed in something called life-long learning - they've clearly abandoned that."
But Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce says the Government is being fiscally responsible by focusing student allowances on those who need them most - younger learners from struggling families.
"What we're saying is you can have three academic years of taxpayer-funded student allowance and then after that, you're onto the student loans scheme, which is interest-free.
"So I appreciate for both Labour and the Greens that no amount is enough to be spent in this area, but actually the rest of us have to be fiscally responsible - and that's what we're trying to do."
Mr Joyce says the restrictions are part of a suite of changes to get student debt under control.
