Victorian art students reject fees
By Kylie Moon
MELBOURNE — Students from the Victorian College of the Arts returned to campus on July 13 to discover that a subcommittee of the college council had voted narrowly in favour of recommending full up-front fees for undergraduate students. A final decision will be made at the July 30 VCA council meeting.
The Review Consultative Team, made up of the six deans, representatives of the National Tertiary Education Industry Union and the student union, and VCA consultants, is writing a five-year plan to cope with the federal government's 25% cut to the VCA budget.
Students argue that the college is not a supermarket which accepts only those who can pay and that up-front fees would contradict the principle of admission for artistic excellence. Kylie Wilkinson, VCA student union education officer, said, "Considering that the average income for artists is $18,000 a year, it makes no economic sense for a student to invest $30,000 in a fine arts degree.
"It has been proven that fees do not work. For example, the RMIT full-fee Bachelor of Fine Arts course has had zero applications. Other institutions, such as Melbourne Uni, are just not filling quotas."
Up-front fees would add to the large amount spent by VCA students on specialist materials each year. Film students sometimes have to spend up to $20,000 making their graduating film.
Students are organising public meetings, protests and media stunts to campaign against up-front fees before the final decision. Campaign meetings are held at 5pm, Monday to Friday at the student union offices. A public meeting is being planned for July 27 and a rally against up-front fees will be held on July 30. For more information, phone the student union on 9682 1123.