International students struggle to pay tuition fees

Tuition fees are very expensive in Australia. A student has to fork out about $16000-$32000 per year and that's not including the living expenses. Luckily my parents back home in China and my part time job pays for the tuition and the living expenses. Katherine explains the issues faced by students.

"In India and other third world countries students struggle to make ends meet and I have found that many of these students have asked about scholarships on the Universities facebook pages. Like all universities RMIT is not alone and they don't have many scholarships available for students facing these difficulties"

" For Indian and African students meeting the $50000 per annum requirement let alone the $18600 requirement by Immigration is difficult. Many of these students have had to have borrowed money from somewhere back home before coming."

"Local students pay HECS and are supported by the Government which for some International students they see it as unfair. They see that they are being treated like cash cows".

"It is very expensive and time consuming to transfer money from back home to Australia. Even if these students were allowed to bring money into Australia there is that risk of having to declare the money at the border or of it being stolen. Therefore these students tend to enquire about part time jobs which it is really difficult to find in Australia".

"The exchange rates can vary from time to time hence these students worry about the costs of transferring money".

" For the poor students money and paying the fees is a constant worry. Hence some of them miss classes to work in order to pay the fees. Also in some cases fare evasion is really high on the trams and trains because students cannot afford to pay for the transportation. In Victoria the cost of a full fare monthly is $120 which is quite high for some students".


" Some of the Iranian students are facing financial difficulties at the moment because the crisis going on Iran where no money can be transferred in or out of the country. Hence it is a struggle to survive here. They have to get up at 4 or 5am and work the early hours of the morning and then get to class. On top of that they have to pay about $16000 per year as well as OSHC. Most of them worry about being in debt."

"If there were to be more support from the Government and the Universities then some of these problems may be alleviated. If internationals in Melbourne were allowed to buy concession MYKIs then they can afford to spend more money on outings and tuition".

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