The Otago Polytechnic council has voted this week for dramatic increases to the levies and fees it charges students as it prepares for anticipated funding cuts to take effect next year.

According to the Otago Daily Times full-time domestic students could face a 65 percent increase in student services levies and a 3 to 4 percent increase in tuition fees, adding probably $350 to $500 to their annual bill. Tuition fees for new international students attending the polytechnic next year will increase by between 7 and 11 percent, an average of $1300 a year.

Chief executive Phil Ker told the Otago Daily Times he would be preparing a budget over the next two months and no final decisions had been made yet. He said even though he knew increasing fees and levies would be controversial, some level of increase was inevitable. The polytechnic needed to cut .9 million from its budget next year because its base government funding was reducing by that amount.

“We are between a rock and a hard place, as is everyone else in the tertiary sector.”

He told the Otago Daily Times he “did not want to think about” what would happen if the budget reduction target was not met.

TEU organiser Kris Smith said that like all other polytechnics the 2.2 percent CPI funding increase to Otago Polytechnic had received in this year’s budget had effectively been negated by cuts to Business Links and Base Grant funding – both of which made up a core part of the polytechnic’s income.

Thanks to leighblackall @ Flickr for the photo