The Great Fees Rip-off

Merv Wellington was not content to sabotage what remained of a basic grant. He also got stuck into fees. It has been an accepted argument by many people that low tuition fees improves accessibility to tertiary education. This argument is particularly prevalent in Labour Party circles. Consequently as a result of this belief, and student pressure, the Labour government of 1973 to 75 instituted two positive reforms to the Fees Bursary. It extended the value of the Fees Bursary to cover 100% of tuition fees (previously it had been 90%), and the scope of it to cover part time students, not just full timers. These reforms remained in existence until 1979.

In apparent acceptance of the belief that universities should be elitist, and accessibility limited, Mr Wellington made major changes, as part of the TAG, to the Fees Bursary. Renamed the Tertiary Fees Grant (TFG), coverage was cut from 100% to 75%, income restrictions were introduced ($3000 in 1980 and $3500 in 1981) which cut out many part time students, and the criteria for retaining it were made much more stringent. Thus it is not surprising that there was, in 1980, a 21% reduction in the number of students receiving the TFG.