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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY
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Families in exam struggle BY DAISY HUDSON
DAISY.H@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Mid Canterbury secondary students racked up $9400 in unpaid NCEA fees last year, and there are concerns that some families are struggling to afford their children’s education. According to New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) figures, 11 per cent of Mid Canterbury’s 841 senior secondary students did not pay their NCEA fees in 2013.
That number has jumped significantly from 2010, when just 4.4 per cent of local students did not pay their fees. NZQA data from 2014 is not currently available. For Ashburton College principal Grant McMillan, the NZQA fees system was “hypocritical”. Mr McMillan believed students should not be charged to sit NCEA assessments, as schools were told by the Ministry of Education not to charge
for parts of the curriculum but NZQA were able to charge fees, despite the fact they both operate under the same Education Act. Mr McMillan said there would be families at every school who struggled to pay NCEA fees. “As a college we can help in a number of ways, if we know about it,” he said. “NZQA has a discount too, but there’s a bit of bureaucracy involved.” Students sitting NCEA as-
sessments are charged $76.70 for the year, with a late fee of $50 charged if fees were paid after the mid-September due date. NCEA fees have not changed since they were first implemented in 2005. According to NZQA, if a family was eligible for financial assistance, the cost of NCEA qualifications was reduced to $20 per student, or $30 a family. Mount Hutt College principal John Schreurs said he was una-
ware of students at the college who had not paid, but he said the school spent “a fair bit of time” chasing up late fees. A NZQA spokesperson said students were “proactively” reminded that they had outstanding unpaid NCEA fees. Students had to pay their fees to have their results recorded on their Records of Achievement and to receive their certificates. However, they would be able to view their results online.
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