Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce has indicated he will be taking a closer look at the compulsory non-academic levies that students are being charged by universities and polytechs.
In a speech at Victoria University last week, Joyce expressed concern that a number of institutions have made significant increases to non-academic levies, which fund services like student health and careers services.
Joyce said he has seen instances where students have been charged for things such as a “building maintenance levy”, “library services” or “compulsory charges for internet access”.
Joyce will be writing to the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors Committee to formally raise the issue and express his concerns.
“I would urge universities and ITPs to tread carefully with these compulsory add-ons—I wouldn’t want to see big increases after big increases leading people to think you are avoiding fee regulation by charging in another way,” he said.
Joyce will question whether all the things that are being charged for should be compulsory for all students or not, and whether part-time students should be treated differently to full-time students.
Universities will be asked to justify the fees they are charging students.
A number of universities, including Victoria, increased student services levies for 2010. Vic’s compulsory student services levy almost doubled from $275 in 2009 to $510 for the 2010 academic year. Canterbury University increased their levy from $80 in 2009 to $600 in 2010.
Victoria University Vice-Chancellor Pat Walsh is confident that the university can justify the levy being charged to students.
“By paying the levy, students are able to access the wide range of services offered for a full calendar year, for free or for a heavily discounted rate,” he says.
“These services are necessary for students to be supported through their time at university. No one can predict when they may need to access services such as counselling, health, or learning and career support. To provide this support is fundamental to offering a learning and teaching environment where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.”
VUWSA President Max Hardy says VUWSA “vigorously opposed” the increase to the levy.
“Students are the main funders, and the only users of the services, and they therefore have a right to a big say in the levy and how it is spent.”
He says he has been in touch with many students on the issue. “Some are supportive of the levy and some are not,” he says.
New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) Co-President David Do says universities need to be “upfront and transparent about how they spend students’ fees”.
He says the source of the levy increases is “government under-funding putting pressure on institution budgets”.
“Students are getting the raw end of the stick,” Do says.
Hardy says that Joyce has approached both NZUSA and VUWSA to begin dialogue on student services levies.