Ashburton Guardian, Thursday, July 30, 2020

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Thursday, July 30, 2020

Since Sept 27, 1879

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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY

Loss of foreign students hits colleges

Online move right call P2

Both Ashburton and Mount Hutt colleges are taking a hammering financially due to the loss of foreign fee-paying students. By Sue Newman

sue.n@theguardian.co.nz

Sandys sinks the sixth P11

Mid Canterbury’s two secondary schools are counting the lost income from international students at well over $100,000 and rising. Both Mount Hutt College and Ashburton College rely on fees from international students to boost their operating fund, but on the back of the Covid-19 closure of New Zealand’s borders, both schools have a significantly lower number of those students currently on their rolls. Mount Hutt College normally hosts seven or eight long-term international students; currently it has two, but it is the loss of short stay groups that are having the most significant impact on income, principal Jack Saxon said.

Traditionally the college hosts several groups of Thai and Japanese students each year. This year it will host none and Saxon is putting the overall loss of international student fees at more than $100,000. “And into the future, while long term student numbers might increase once the borders start to open, I don’t think there’s any light at the end of the tunnel for international short stays and they’re the more profitable, generally,” he said. Mount Hutt was caught in a funding bind because it had a high decile rating and that impacted on its level of government funding. However, that did not necessarily mean its school community was wealthy, rather it meant the school had to look for additional funding sources.

Until Covid-19, that source had been international student fees, Saxon said. “This source has now been compromised. At the moment we’re starting to tread water, but if the border restrictions are not loosened next year it’ll have an impact on staffing. “At the end of the day it goes back operationally, to what levels schools are funded to, to run a modern curriculum. It means they’re forced to find other sources of income.” Looking to the future, the college was exploring a range of domestic academies including multi-sport, ski and outdoor education, Saxon said.

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