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Fretting over fees
VC predicts rise in costs for foreign and domestic students. By Dallas Bastian
Universities could look to increase international student fees so they can charge the domestic cohort more as well, one industry leader warns.
University of Wollongong vice-chancellor Paul Wellings said,“ I expect that all universities will review their current onshore international undergraduate fees, as we are led to believe that these fees will set the upper limit for domestic undergraduate fees,” he said.
However, he said most universities and courses should have sufficient leeway to explore an increase in domestic fees without putting pressure on the projected international fees for 2016.
“ Fees for on-shore international students make up a significant component of all Australian university budgets,” Wellings said.“ A sudden downturn in these funds during the transition to deregulated domestic undergraduate fees could have a sharp effect on institutional sustainability.”
Wellings added that there is also a chance that international students and their families are already hearing confusing and contradictory messages about Australian universities’ funding.
He warned the Commonwealth government and each university would need to improve communication strategies with all categories of students during the period of 2014 – 18.
“ In particular, we need to make sure that Australia’ s market share of international students is not eroded by our competitors in Europe, UK, the US and elsewhere,” he said.
However, Wellings acknowledged that Australia has always taken into account international competitors when it comes to the pricing of on-shore international fees.
“ This won’ t change,” he said.“ Prospective international students and their families are sensitive to institutional reputation, the price of the degree and their understanding of the opportunities in Australia.”
Phil Honeywood, national executive director of the International Education Association of Australia( IEAA), said the fact that all Australian universities and private colleges try to benchmark tuition fees against competitor countries – such as Canada, the UK and the US – negates any likely tuition fee increases.
“ We predict that the deregulated system will not lead to any substantial increase in international student fees because the universities have said they will keep the international fees at the global benchmarked market level,” Honeywood said.“ There won’ t necessarily be a correlation between any increasing domestic student fees and those that pertain to international students.”
He said the market can bear only so much.
“ Universities know they can only charge so much before students will go … to Canada or New Zealand as alternative destinations,” he said.
Thomson Ch’ ng, president of the Council of International Students Australia
( CISA), said every year international students experience incremental tuition fee increases depending on different universities and institutions.
“ The deregulation of tuition fees will affect our domestic counterparts more, compared with international students, given that international students are already experiencing a high cost of living and especially high tuition fees,” he said. Though he added that there is a chance that the deregulated system will result in cost increases due to the desire to increase domestic student fees.
He said students need to be made aware and notified about the percentage of increase every year so parents or sponsors can take the information into account when budgeting.
“ For a bachelor and postgraduate [ student ], we’ re talking about these three or four years … and in that time a lot of things can change,” Ch’ ng said.
CISA frequently receives emails from students asking for help because they are facing financial difficulties and can’ t complete their course.“ That is very concerning and I think obviously that’ s not just on the tuition fee itself, even though tuition fees are a major part of the expenses, but [ it’ s also ] other associated costs, including living cost,” Ch’ ng said.“ Students need to be aware that this is happening and there’ s a potential hike of tuition fees and that they have to take this into consideration when choosing to study abroad, especially in Australia.”
Still, he expects fees to remain regulated at this point. ■ campusreview. com. au | 7