Limits to provider recoupments for costs of collecting the fee
- HELA Submission
35. Prior to the introduction of VSU some Providers adopted the practice of recouping their administrative costs incurred in collecting the compulsory amenities and services fees from students.
36. The Guidelines contain no explicit provision permitting Providers to apply part of the fee collected to cover their costs in collecting the fee.
37. Based upon surveys conducted as part of the AUS/ACUMA 2007 VSU Impact Study we estimate that pre-VSU about 42 per cent of universities adopted this practice (there was a response rate of 50 per cent on these particular survey questions – which were issued directly to University Finance Directors at member universities of Universities Australia). That is, an estimated 58 per cent of universities pre-VSU did not make any recoupment from the amenities and services fees for their costs in collecting the fees.
38. For those universities which pre-VSU adopted the practice of recouping from the amenities and services fees their costs in collecting the fees, the percentage of the amenities and services fee recouped solely for this purpose ranged from 1 per cent to 10 per cent.
39. A number of campus services organisations have long asserted that pre-VSU some universities were abusing this practice and that the amount of the fee recouped was manifestly excessive relative to the actual costs incurred by the university in collecting the fee. For example, if an amenities and services fee was $400 per student, some universities were withholding up to $40 per student to cover the costs the university asserted it had incurred in invoicing and collecting the fee from the student. Other universities asserted that their cost in collecting the fee in these circumstances was as low as $4 per student.
40. The Guidelines should provide some clarity and guidance on this issue. It is not considered unreasonable for Providers to wish to recoup their administrative costs in collecting the new compulsory amenities and services fee but sufficient guidance should be provided to ensure that Providers electing to charge the fee and also recoup their administrative costs of collection do not apply an excessive recoupment. The recoupment under this heading should be ‘fair and reasonable’ in all cases.
41. Fees proposed to be collected under the provisions of this Bill should be for student amenities and services and not for broader Provider funding purposes unrelated to student amenities and services.
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