The Council of Central Queensland University announced last week that CQU would not increase HECS fees for 2005 – making it one of the few universities in Australia to-date to keep a lid on raising HECS charges.

The announcement has provoked favourable media coverage nationally and regionally.

“CQU will remain accessible, providing one of the best values in Higher Education in Australia,” explained a spokesperson.

It would have been easy for CQU to change the HECS fee structure to cover the increased cost of education, but Council believed it was inappropriate to do that at this time.

Most Central Queensland students fall in the middle-to-low socio-economic categories – increasing fees by as much as 25% would have been a burden to the communities served by the University.

While CQU has made its decision not to increase fees, the University said it would have to look at other ways of adding to its revenue and delivering services more efficiently as the costs of higher education continue to increase.

CQU was rated among the highest of all Australian universities for the education experience, entry flexibility, and graduate starting salaries according to the Good Universities Guide 2004 Edition.