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No pay increases until students get fee decreases

No pay increases until students get fee decreases

Students around the country are horrified to hear of the significant salary increases for tertiary sector bosses, and are calling for an immediate halt to all further pay increases.

“These exorbitant pay packets are a slap in the face for tertiary students everywhere. While students struggle to support and house themselves, tertiary bosses are rolling in it”, said Joey Randall, Co-President of the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA).

“A key part of the role of these institution leaders is ensuring the well-being of their students, yet they’ve done virtually nothing to win additional funding to prevent fee increases and they often treat students with disdain. They have failed miserably”, said Randall.

The State Services Commission annual report shows that already high salaries have jumped significantly in the past year. The highest paid was University of Auckland Vice Chancellor Stuart McCutcheon on $470,000-$479,000, up $60,000 from the year before.

“It’s pretty hard to swallow salaries of this level when students are struggling on only a few hundred dollars a week, and all around the country they have just been walloped with another round of fee increases. It’s an incredibly insulting joke”, said Randall.

With most institutions already having set tuition fees for 2008, undergraduate students are facing fee increases of between 2.7% and 5%, resulting in hundreds of dollars in extra costs for next year. With many being forced to rely on the student loan scheme to support themselves during study, such fee increases will only add to the already astronomical $9.4 billion of collective student debt.


NZUSA is calling for a halt to tertiary head salary increases until they start being proactive on addressing fees for their students.

 

ENDS


 

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