Victoria Students Face Another Fee Hike

Students studying at Victoria University are set for another fee hike next year according to comments made by Vice-Chancellor Michael Irving at a recent Academic Board meeting. Professor Irving stated it was the University's intention to bring fees into line with Auckland and Otago Universities.

"If we move to charging the same level of fees as Auckland and Otago Universities students will pay a whole heap more. Fees will go through the roof for the second year in a row," Chris Hipkins, President-elect of the Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association said today.

Mr. Hipkins said an analysis of the fees each of those institutions charged shows Victoria fees could rise by between $300 and $700 depending on what course students were studying. The following table illustrates the fees charged by the institutions in 1999:

"These figures show the Science and Law students are set to suffer at the hands of a considerable fee increase. Humanities, Social Sciences and Commerce students will be lucky to escape any better off,"

"What students can quite rightly be asking the University Management is where the extra money is going to go. The Vice-Chancellor can't blame the staff for his increase in fees, as he has refused to negotiate any pay increase with them,"

"The University Management must also find it hard to justify hiking fees up in the same year they sold internet company NetLink for millions of dollars overseas,"

"To a large extent the blame for fee increases must lie with the government, who have dramatically under-funded the tertiary education sector for far too long. But the University Management can't get off that easily. They must also take responsibility for the blow-out in consultancy fees and management restructuring costs," Mr Hipkins concluded.

ENDS

A meeting of the Victoria University Council will be held on Monday 8 November to set the final level of fees for 1999.

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