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Taken advantage of.. (aka reasons not to come to NZ to study)

Tuesday, March 28th, 2006

Since i have been studying at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, i have had a less than pleasant time trying to renew my student visa which has to be done every 6 months. To go through the process costs NZ$70 (just under 30 quid) and tons of frustration. This year they have changed the rules slightly, i presume in order to reduce work at the immigration center, and have allowed unis to process applications. To encourage students to do this, they charge $120 if you apply at the immigration center, and $70 if you apply at uni. The university in their wisdom have seen this as an opportunity to shaft the international students even more than they do already. So we can pay the university $130 for the service, or we can apply at the immigration center and pay $120. The university said that they are charged $70 to process an application by the immigration center.
Our fees as international students per year are over NZ$20,000. Local students pay around $4,500. You would have thought that even if they cannot afford to cover this new service they are providing with the vast amount of money they receive from us every year, running such a service could never amount to $60 per student.
Unfortunately, international students seem to be the main source of income for the University of Auckland, and it appears they plan to milk us for as much as they can get away with. This is such a shame because i have really enjoyed studying here, and the academic staff have been mostly great (if a bit dissolusioned with the way the uni is being run).

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