We students of Torrens University are making a special appeal to you regarding our tuition fees. As you are aware, the COVID-19 situation is having a serious impact on us students.

We are satisfied with the university’s crisis management and respect the closure of the premises; however, we are expecting support in terms of rebate on tuition fees.

• Besides the price inflation of goods and services, the advice from health departments to practice ‘social distancing’ has also impacted our income. Unfortunately, most of us lost our jobs as we work in hospitality and tourism. Our relatives and friends overseas are in an unfavourable situation to help financially at the moment.

• As international students, our mental health is affected by multiple reasons (homesickness, isolation, unemployment and future uncertainty) during this tough time.

• Based on our school policies, students can only enrol to 33% of our course online as per our visa requirement. This has suddenly been changed due to the given situation. As per our agreement and compliance with the school, we paid for face-to-face courses, which has now been abruptly changed to online classes without consent from the students. This is a breach in our contract since Torrens University can not provide the same quality of education.

• In spite of the lecturers are trying to do their best in teaching us, the quality of content of online study cannot be compared to the face-to-face classes that we have initially signed up for. Most classes only last for a maximum of two hours and there are less detailed brief on our assessments. Some students are having a difficult time adjusting to the transition from face-to-face classes to online classes.

The pressure imposed on students to succeed this semester while practicing self-discipline, isolation and autonomy should be compensated by the tuition fee reduction.

We are aware that this is not an easy time for Torrens University and we hope that the government will come to assist in this unpredictable time.

However, in the short term, with the impacts being felt across, we would like to propose a reduced fee for the current and the next trimester.

We appreciate your help and support!

Torrens University Students