Fee increases at Lincoln outrageous

2 November 2004

Fee increases at Lincoln outrageous

Students at Lincoln University are outraged that the University has today voted to increase domestic tuition fees by thee percent for most courses.

“This fee increase shows disregard for students and their families who will be plunged into even more student loan debt that will take longer to repay,” said Josephine Newman, President of the Lincoln University Students’ Association (LUSA).

“Students are outraged that the University has shown such little concern for the welfare of its own students. Incremental fee increases such as those that have happened over the last 2 years at Lincoln University are slowly adding to the countries’ student debt total. This is what the council need to address.’

“Students at Lincoln are already paying the highest fees they have ever paid and cannot afford to pay even higher student fees and go into even more debt in 2005.”

“The decision to increase fees is totally irresponsible given that enrolments at Lincoln University were lower than expected in 2004 and may be lower again in 2005 thanks to this unnecessary fee increase.”

“The University should show its commitment to staff and students by cutting wasteful marketing expenditure and investing the money in reducing student fees and increasing staff pay,” said Newman.

‘The Lincoln University Council agreed that steps needed to be taken for universities’ to work with students’ to lobby central government for more funding, but they did not address the issue of increasing student fees in the meantime. This was very disappointing.’

ENDS

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