Otago Polytechnic students are sick of year after year of fee rises, but the institution said it had no choice when it voted to increase them again.
The polytechnic council, in what has become almost a formality in recent years, on Friday voted to increase fees for next year by the maximum allowable 4%, for all but its priority trades programmes.
The decision to again increase fees by the maximum allowable amount was despite Otago Polytechnic Students' Association president Rebecca Swindells saying years of increases were putting tertiary education out of reach for sections of the population.
Any vote to increase fees was also a vote to ''decrease the accessibility of tertiary education'', Ms Swindells said in a written submission to council.
''OPSA supports and recommends a 0% fee increase because students should not be expected to keep bearing the increasing costs of government underfunding, nor should next year's students be paying for the education costs of future generations,'' she said.
The resulting increase in student debt levels put limits on the life choices of graduates, made it more difficult for them to buy homes and start families, she said.
''Any decision to increase fees is directly voting to increase student debt, with associated increased impacts on the life choices of borrowers, negative impacts on our community and longer repayment times for all students,'' she said.
Otago Polytechnic council chairwoman Kathy Grant said it understood the OPSA's concerns, but a lack of government funding meant it had no choice but to raise fees by the maximum amount.
''In a way, at an intuitional level, I counter that concern with the fact that we need to be fiscally responsible in terms of the management of the polytechnic's finances.
''Given the pressure they are under ... for my part I see little option but to increase fees,'' Ms Grant said.
Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce said instead of raising fees by the maximum amount every year, the polytechnic should look for ways of cutting costs.
If tertiary institutions kept raising fees by the maximum each year, the Government would strongly consider adjusting the maximum allowable increase.
It was unfair for the polytechnic to say it was making up for ''shortfall'' in government funding.
''The polytechnic actually had the highest level of government funding it's ever had last year, at $34 million.''
