Federation University will lose up to $29 million following the federal government’s freeze on university base funding, according to data obtained by the ABC.
The federal government announced the freeze last December, however, the ABC recently calculated the loss to individual universities with data obtained through a Freedom of Information investigation using approximate numbers to show the financial impact over four years.
According to the ABC’s modelling, Federation University will cop a 5.9 per cent decline in funding.
Federation University declined to comment on how the funding freeze would impact the university and the services it would provide.
“The university has been holding discussions with the Department of Education on the impact of the funding freeze on FedUni,” a university spokesperson said.
“We are not able to make any further comment at this stage.”
National Tertiary Education Union president Jeannie Rea described the federal government’s funding freeze as a “cut” and said it was “unacceptable”.
“They like to call it a freeze, but it is, in effect, a cut over the next three years,” she said.
“I think what they [Federation University] will be trying to do is figure out what is the best way of managing this cut.”
Ms Rea said rural and regional universities may be worst hit and that universities with already-tight budgets would have the most difficulty accommodating the decline in funding.
“Unfortunately, in our experience looking at how universities manage budgetary problems and issues, they tend to start cutting courses or where courses are offered and what time they are offered,” she said.
“All of those things have an enormous impact on students in regional areas.
“Places like Federation University [have] a good proportion of students who aren’t school leavers. They are mature-aged students juggling work and families and other responsibilities.
“There could potentially be more casualisation of teaching which has adverse impacts on the students.”
Ms Rea said services, such as student counselling, may take a hit as a result of the funding freeze.
“I think it will play out differently across different campuses and the spread of what they offer and how they offer it,” she said.
