Student union fights fees

By Julia Haire

BRISBANE -- The University of Queensland's student union will be taking a submission to the education committee of the academic board on May 30 regarding alleged illegal fees imposed on students for course materials.

It has become common for some the departments to charge students for course materials in some of their subjects. The student union submission states that these charges are illegal under the Higher Education Funding Act.

The act states that universities cannot charge “compulsory” fees in addition to students having to contribute to the HECS scheme. The problem faced by university departments across the country is a lack of sufficient funding from the federal government.

“We acknowledge that many departments are underfunded and use the fees to cover their own costs, however, we do not accept that students, who are often financially disadvantaged, should be required to illegally fund departments in this manner”, states the submission.

The student union is also demanding that all course materials like lecture notes be made available to students in the library or be provided free of charge. Most of these lecture notes are not even provided for reference in the library for those unable to buy them.

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