Int. fee increase outrageous betrayal of students

International fee increase outrageous betrayal of students

The University of Waikato is planning to increase the fees for international students for 2005.

“The impact of this fee increase will be severe. Many international students are living in squalor, suffering from poor health and nutrition due to the exorbitant increases in international student fees,” said Sandy Pushpamangalam, President of the Waikato Students’ Union (WSU). .

“The University management has a stereotypical view of international students as rich kids with flash cars. It is simply not true. The reality is that most of them pay for their studies using a student loan or by mortgaging the properties in their home country,” said Pushpamangalam.

“International students at Waikato University cannot afford to face a further fee increase and consider that the University is betraying them by increasing student fees again in 2004.”

“A graduate student enrolled in 2001 for four years is currently affected by an increase of more than 50 percent due to fees increase,inflation and other factors,” said Pushpamangalam.

“International students are left to suffer as they are not eligible to apply for any assistance in New Zealand. In many cases, they cannot apply for extra money once the loan is approved. Further, they are not eligible to work more than 15 hours due to immigration regulations.”

Students are running a nationwide campaign for grandparenting of international student fees which means that a student who enrols in a course can calculate how much they will end up paying by the end of their studies.

“The only solution to the situation is to introduce fees Grand-parenting, so that students budget for the course of their studies”,

International students will be protesting against the fees increase on this Friday to call for no increase and to introduce fees grand-parenting.

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