Fee hikes restrict student choices
New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations
15 September 2014
A survey of 5000 students from across the tertiary sector shows that tuition fees have increased at the maximum level
permitted. Fees are constraining students’ choices more than ever before. Although tuition fees are only permitted to
increase 4% per year, our survey has discovered that student fees have increased by 14% in the last three years.
“This survey shows how desperately underfunded our tertiary institutions are. Even when the government increases funding
for programmes such as engineering and agriculture, the tertiary providers still feel it’s necessary to increase fees
the maximum they are allowed. There isn’t an unsustainable demand for tertiary education and university leaders are
already telling us that we are nearing the level where there is likely to be a collapse in demand”, said New Zealand
Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) President Daniel Haines.
Median tuition fees for fulltime students are now $6139, up from $5400 in 2011. The average fees for fulltime students
are now $7054, up from $6246. The average tuition fees for part-time students have increased by 31%. This data suggests
that the average part-time student is now half-time.
“In 2011 we already had the eighth highest fees for public institutions in the world, that is likely to have worsened,”
said Haines.
“The impact of increasing fees is not only in preventing people from studying at all, it is also impacting on the study
choices that students are making. In 2011 one in four students identified fees as having an influence on their choice of
course, that is now up to 44% or nearly one in two.”
“Students should study where and what they want, to follow their aspirations and to maximise their talents. That so many
are choosing not on what is best for them or for their qualification but what will cost them the least is damaging to
our education system, our future productivity and our future society.”
"Of those who cited fees as having an influence on course choice, 44% had to think carefully about whether or not a
course was worth it, 53% had to think carefully about whether or not they could continue to afford to be a students, and
22% said it affected which institution they could afford to attend. 20% did fewer or different papers than the ones they
wanted to."
"One in five students not continuing with their studies identified cost as the reason that they would no longer
studying, the leading cause after finishing their qualification or finding employment," says Haines.
The New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) surveyed students from across New Zealand during the month of
August asking them about their income, expenditure, assets and debts. The study, the largest of its kind and unique in
that it has been ongoing for nearly 30 years, involved just under 5,000 student respondents from 11 campuses, and
included those at both universities and polytechnics.
ENDS