A proposed 6.3% increase in tuition fees for most University of Otago students next year is too much, Otago University Student Association (OUSA) president Harriet Geoghegan says.
A report to today's university council recommends a 4% increase on the GST-exclusive fees paid by New Zealand students, plus a further 2.3% to cover GST rising to 15%.
Fees for international students were decided in June and will rise by 4%-7%, including GST.
Ms Geoghegan, one of two student representatives on the council, said yesterday she would be voting against the moves.
"It is a significant increase."
The 4% rise in GST-exclusive fees is the maximum increase allowed by the Government.
Students would not be surprised the council had recommended the maximum "but that doesn't mean they will be happy about it", Ms Geoghegan said.
Fee increases were first discussed at a finance and budget committee meeting last month.
At that meeting she suggested a rise of 2.72% on fees excluding GST, plus the 2.3% required for GST, taking the overall rise to just over 5%.
"Five percent would have been consistent with the increases in previous years.
"The university managed with a 5% increase in those years and I was hoping they could do that again."
Increasing domestic fees was expected to bring in an additional $7 million next year, with another $2.6 million expected from the increase in international fees, the report to the council said.
The report also proposes increasing student welfare and recreation levies paid by students at the Dunedin campus by $10 to $294, and increasing most administration fees by about 7%.
It recommends the fees for registering late or seeking late course approval rise by 37.9%, from $87 to $120.
The university was "continuing to operate in a cost-constrained environment" with cost increases greater than income, the report's author, financial services director Grant McKenzie, said.
The university would lose $5.3 million next year because Government funding allocated temporarily to boost academic salaries had ended, and was expecting salary, consumables and building occupancy cost increases to be $12.5 million next year.
