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Trinity College and part of the University as seen from the air in the early 1920's.
WITHDRAWAL OF GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR COLLEGES All Government support for Colleges will cease by the end of 1986. Each year it will be diminished by a further 25% from the 1983 level. There will be no indexation for inflation and cost-of-living. For Trinity, this means the progressive loss of $72,000 each year for the annual budget. This can only be recouped by increasing student fees, probably to $130 per week next year. Things have declined alarmingly since the Murray Report in the early 1960's recommended substantial help for Colleges with both capital grants and annual per capita grants. The Report, accepted by the Menzies Government and its successors, affirmed the value to students, and to the community generally, of collegiate living. The per capita grant was to provide assistance for students, especially in their first year, by way of tutorials and pastoral care. Capital grants for approved projects were usually on a matching basis, and enabled Colleges to maintain and renovate ageing buildings and to bring kitchens, bathrooms and roofs up to an acceptable standard. These grants were suddenly cut off in 1975 and there is no likelihood of their being reinstated. The removal of all grants means that the Government no longer sees Colleges as a vital part of the educational life of the nation. In Trinity we are committed to a heritage, the value of which has been proven over centuries. We shall not allow ourselves to become a mere boarding house. We are determined to pursue excellence and the fullness of a true collegiate life. In August, a representative meeting of Heads of Colleges and Halls of Residence from across the nation adopted the following statement:
SENATOR RYAN AND STUDENT RESIDENCES The Heads of Colleges and Halls of Residence wish to affirm that they are in sympathy with the stated policy of the Government of greater participation in higher education, especially by disadvantaged groups such as those who live in rural and outer-metropolitan areas. However, they are severely critical of some of the decisions to this end taken by Senator Ryan, the Minister for Education and Youth Affairs, especially those relating to students in Residential Colleges and Halls. In August 1983, without consultation with the Universities Council, Senator Ryan announced a 25 per cent cut in the Recurrent Grant to University Residential Colleges and Halls. She seemed to be unaware that the burden of this cut would fall on the 80 per cent or more of the residents of these Colleges and Halls who have to live away from home in order to pursue a tertiary education. Moreover, the grant is to meet the costs of services, such as tuition and counselling, which these students need to help them to make the adjustment from count ry to city, and from school to university. The cut will therefore be counter-productive to the Government's policy; it both threatens access of rural students to tertiary education by increasing the financial burden, and also threatens the support services so necessary to their success.
Since August 1983, the Heads have repeatedly sought an opportunity to discuss these matters with the Minister, but she has consistently refused to speak with them. The Universities Council also warned the Minister, in its report for the 1982-84 triennium: A PUBLICATION OF TRINITY COLLEGE WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE "The Council is concerned that the effect of this (cut) could be that fees will rise thus imposing an increased financial burden on Registered by Australia Post — Publication No. VBG 4336