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Media Release
SLASHING UP-FRONT FEES FOR STUDENTS -
VOLUNTARY STUDENT UNIONISM LEGISLATION INTRODUCED
16 March, 2005 MIN 1062/05
The Howard Government has today introduced legislation into Parliament that will make student union payments voluntary.
Students who enrol at Australian universities to study for a degree should not be forced into union membership or forced to pay compulsory union fees.
From 2006, no student will be forced to join a student organisation, union or guild or pay a fee to an institution for non-academic amenities, facilities or services. This is the 21st Century. Union membership should be voluntary and services should not be propped up by the compulsory appropriation of students’ hard earned money.
Australian students currently pay between $100 and $590 a year in union fees as a condition of enrolment. These fees are unconnected to students’ academic courses and are charged with no regard for their ability to pay.
In 2004, student unions acquired more than $160 million in compulsory fees from Australian full-time undergraduate students. The list is topped by the University of Sydney, whose 26,517 students were forced to pay $14.19 million, with yearly fees up to $590. Monash University students were next, having been forced to pay $13.4 million in compulsory fees. (see attached list of all universities).
Student union representatives regularly claim that compulsory fees fund services. However they do not mention the facilities, allowances and air travel for student union officers which are also funded by fees. Many students who are forced to pay these fees would not even realise their money is being used to fund these activities.
Part-time students and external students, who may never set foot on a campus, are also required to pay compulsory fees for services they do not use.
Why is it that a single mother training to be a nurse should pay for the canoeing or mountaineering club when all she wants is a degree? However, any student who wants to be part of a sporting or social club should have the right to do so and this legislation will allow those students to pay for those services if they make that choice.
Australian university students should enjoy the same rights on campus as they enjoy off campus. This legislation will give them those rights.
I call on the Labor Party to join with the Government in freeing students from the financial burden of compulsory up-front student union fees.
Media Contacts: Dr Nelson’s Office: Yaron Finkelstein 0414 927 663
COMPULSORY UNIVERSITY GENERAL SERVICE AND AMENITIES UP-FRONT FEES 2005
|
Institution |
Indicative Max. Annual Fee (U/grad F/Time, 2005) |
Total F/time U/grad Students, 2004* |
Estimated Total Compulsory Fees 2005 |
|
Charles Sturt University |
$ 272.00 |
12,390 |
$ 3.37m |
|
Macquarie University |
$ 356.00 |
12,712 |
$ 4.53m |
|
Southern Cross University |
$ 349.80 |
5,896 |
$ 2.06m |
|
The University of New England |
$ 370.00 |
6,088 |
$ 2.25m |
|
The University of New South Wales |
$ 502.60 |
20,146 |
$ 10.13m |
|
The University of Newcastle |
$ 364.00 |
13,429 |
$ 4.89m |
|
The University of Sydney |
(new) 590.00 |
26,517 |
$ 14.19m |
|
(continuing) 481.00 |
|
|
|
University of Technology, Sydney |
$ 420.00 |
14,580 |
$ 6.12m |
|
University of Western Sydney |
$ 364.00 |
19,959 |
$ 7.27m |
|
University of Wollongong |
$ 351.50 |
11,013 |
$ 3.87m |
|
NSW Sub-total |
|
|
$ 58.68m |
|
Deakin University |
$ 261.00 |
16,406 |
$ 4.28m |
|
La Trobe University |
$ 360.00 |
16,311 |
$ 5.87m |
|
Monash University |
$ 441.20 |
30,366 |
$ 13.40m |
|
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology |
$ 500.00 |
22,534 |
$ 11.27m |
|
Swinburne University of Technology |
$ 304.00 |
7,767 |
$ 2.36m |
|
The University of Melbourne |
$ 392.00 |
25,656 |
$ 10.06m |
|
University of Ballarat |
$ 258.00 |
4,413 |
$1.14m |
|
Victoria University of Technology |
$ 295.00 |
10,725 |
$3.16m |
|
Victoria Sub-total |
|
|
$ 51.54m |
|
Central Queensland University |
$ 264.00 |
10,062 |
$ 2.66m |
|
Griffith University |
$ 306.00 |
20,095 |
$ 6.15m |
|
James Cook University |
$ 275.00 |
8,445 |
$ 2.32m |
|
Queensland University of Technology |
$ 242.00 |
23,772 |
$ 5.75m |
|
The University of Queensland |
$ 272.00 |
22,894 |
$ 6.23m |
|
University of Southern Queensland |
$ 360.80 |
7,277 |
$ 2.63m |
|
University of the Sunshine Coast |
$ 210.00 |
2,475 |
$ 0.52m |
|
Queensland Sub-total |
|
|
$ 26.26m |
|
Curtin University of Technology |
$ 110.00 |
21,475 |
$ 2.36m |
|
Edith Cowan University |
$ 100.00 |
13,069 |
$ 1.31m |
|
Murdoch University |
$ 140.00 |
7,069 |
$ 0.99m |
|
The University of Western Australia |
$ 120.00 |
10,937 |
$ 1.31m |
|
Western Australia Sub-total |
|
|
$ 5.97m |
|
The Flinders University of South Australia |
$ 362.80 |
7,940 |
$ 2.88m |
|
The University of Adelaide |
$ 326.70 |
10,820 |
$ 3.53m |
|
University of South Australia |
$ 273.50 |
16,650 |
$ 4.55m |
|
South Australia Sub-total |
|
|
$ 10.96m |
|
University of Tasmania |
$ 244.00 |
10,892 |
$ 2.66m |
|
Tasmania Sub-total |
|
|
$ 2.66m |
|
Charles Darwin University |
$ 216.00 |
1,956 |
$ 0.42m |
|
Northern Territory Sub-total |
|
|
$ 0.42m |
|
The Australian National University |
$ 220.00 |
7525 |
$ 1.66m |
|
University of Canberra |
$ 270.00 |
5453 |
$ 1.47m |
|
ACT Sub-total |
|
|
$ 3.13m |
|
Australian Catholic University |
$ 310.00 |
7,182 |
$ 2.23m |
|
Multi- State Sub-total |
|
|
$ 2.23m |
|
TOTAL |
|
|
$ 161.84m |
*NB: Amounts were calculated on 2004 u/graduate full-time enrolments and do not include compulsory up front fees collected by universities from p/graduate or p/time students.
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