Councils for many tertiary institutions are again debating fee rises for their students. With continued government cuts to funding and high inflation this year, many are opting to increase fees by the maximum allowable four percent.

At the University of Auckland this provoked the protest de jour of the month – an occupation. At Lincoln University the council is seeking an exemption so it can increase the fee to eight percent for its animal science and agriculture courses. Accompanying fee rises at Lincoln are an undisclosed projected deficit and a fall in student numbers.

Rachel Boyack, the students’ association president at NMIT, would like to see more transparency across the sector when setting fees.

“It does appear that the four percent policy is now being treated as ‘business as usual’, where all programmes at all institutions are having a four percent increase applied without a deep analysis of the cost of each programme.”

“There is no doubt that high fees limit access, even if there is a student loan to pay the initial cost.”

Ms Boyack says the combination of requirements on institutions to deliver a minimum three percent return, combined with the four percent fee increase allowable, cuts to funding and a tertiary education strategy that suggests ‘flexibility’ around fees “all leads to students as the easy option for making up for shortfalls in revenue”.

TEU’s policy on fees is that institutions and the government need to ensure that tertiary education is accessible, affordable, and supportive: “That means lower fees, more investment in our public tertiary education institutions, transparent, equitable admission and selection criteria and processes, and supportive grants that help families to get by while individuals take the opportunity to study.”