The chairperson of the Student Council of the University of Iceland has harshly criticised the government for a 25% increase in registration fees, when the university will not be receiving most of this money.
Vísir reports that registration fees for the university will be raised from 60,000 ISK to 75,000 ISK. However, of the 213 million ISK that this increased fee will generate, only 40 million ISK will go to the school itself – the rest goes into the national treasury. At the same time, government payments to the university will be reduced.
María Rut Kristinsdóttir, the chairperson of the Student Council of the University of Iceland, objects to the proposal:
“If the plan is to increase registration fees, the Student Council has made a clear demand that the revenue from the increase should go to those areas it is supposed to cover. Otherwise we can just call it what it is: a special tax on students.”
María also pointed out that, according to the opinion of the Economics and Business Committee of parliament, the majority of committee members believe that raising school fees will encourage students to make better use of what the university has to offer.
“And so I ask,” María said, “How on earth is it encouraging for students at HÍ to pay more for less quality?”
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