Increasing fees = increasing inflation

Increasing fees = increasing inflation

Information released yesterday by the Department of Statistics on the Consumer Price Index for the March 2006 quarter highlights the high rate of inflation for tertiary tuition.*

“The report notes that a significant upward contribution to inflation came from tertiary tuition which increased 4.6 percent,” said Conor Roberts, Co-president of the New Zealand University Students’ Association.

“At the end of last year students from all over the country again faced large increases in the cost of their education. This is not good enough.”

“The government cannot continue to allow fees increase by these amounts year on year. It is time for the government to realise that in order to bring fees down it needs to better fund public tertiary education in New Zealand.”

“Whilst the no interest on student loans policy will help graduates by allowing them to pay off their debt quicker, the government needs to tackle the drivers of debt and one of those drivers is fee increases.”

“The increasing personal costs of tertiary tuition fees act as a barrier to accessing education for many people. We believe in reducing barriers to study by reducing fees.”

“The inflationary impact of high tertiary tuition hits twice. Firstly students pay more for their study. Secondly increasing fees impact on the inflation rate, which in turn impacts interest rates, which affects all New Zealanders – not just students.”

“While inflation on things like petrol and food hurts now, the high personal inflationary costs of fees in tertiary education will hurt our society for a long time yet,” he concluded.

*Tertiary tuition is surveyed annually in the March quarter.

ENDS

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