Massey students face even bigger fees bill

Massey students have been stung by yet more fee hikes, adding hundreds of dollars to the cost of a degree.

The university council recently approved a 4 per cent increase in tuition fees for students as well as a rise in the student services levy.

Tertiary institutes have already come under fire from the Tertiary Education Minister this year, leading to a Government review of legislation surrounding non-tuition charges.

Extramural Student Association president Ralph Springett said students would be hit hard by the rise in tuition fees, increased student services levies, and higher enrolment fees.

"The announced increases, including the October GST increase, mean that on average full-time students will pay 10 per cent extra to study at Massey," he said.

"Many students will face an increase of more than $500 when they re-enroll for 2011."

A group of first-year Massey students said they were gutted by the fee increases.

Daniel Hedges said degrees were good value once you entered the workplace, but as a struggling student, any extra bill hurts. "It's stupid how they put it up for no apparent reason."

Shaun Sullivan said his finances were already stretched, with a maxed out $1000 overdraft and $12,000 student loan. "It's not fun being a student and this is just going to make it harder," he said.

The extra tuition will add on average $300 to student fees, while the enrolment fee will jump from $40.00 to $75.00.

Also, the student services levy has tripled in three years, now averaging $325 for internal students. This follows a controversial fee rise this year, when the university almost doubled the student services levy from $104 to $200.

Many universities have come under financial pressure as the Government clamps down on funding.

Mr Springett said the Government's under funding of the sector and its insistence on performance-linked funding was to blame.

Universities were using student levies as a way of increasing service fees beyond the 4 per cent tuition maximum.

Massey did not provide details on how much it expected to net from the various fee increases in 2011, but communications director James Gardiner said students were getting a fair deal from the student services fee change.

"The levy is going to be based on papers rather than an annual fee. This is considered fairer because those who study full-time or who take more papers are more likely to use and benefit from the services," he said.

Fees reflected the cost of services and the increasing demand for them, and extra revenue had been invested in online services including counselling and identifying students in need of assistance.

Under current legislation, there are no controls on how tertiary institutions set fees not directly related to tuition. However, the Ministry of Education is reviewing this issue after fee hikes caused controversy in the media

A spokeswoman for Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce said that over the past few years, several institutions had made significant increases to compulsory levies on all students.

"These are to cover things like student health, gyms and the like – but the amounts being charged are in some cases growing dramatically," she said. "We've seen examples of institutions charging things like a building maintenance levy or library services or compulsory charges for internet access. Once upon a time these things were core services."

She said Mr Joyce was determined to ensure students were getting a fair deal.

"As a first step he's written in to chief executives of tertiary institutions to formally raise the issue and lay out his concerns. He's also asked for information on the fees institutions charge and what services they provide for those fees," she said.

Officials will be reporting back to the minister shortly.

- © Fairfax NZ News