Mt Hagen Technical College is charging HECAS students the full school fee as Self-Sponsored students.
Deputy School Principal, Kom Dai said the fee is refundable and once the TESAS scholarship payment reaches the school’s bank account, students will get their money back.
Dai added that the school charges full fees because of the delay in paying the school’s scholarship component by the government.
Dai said this process ensures that the school operations continue without any setbacks.
This year the school is charging K4288 for HECAS students who are living off campus, and will refund the TESAS component of K1394.40, once the payment is delivered to the school.
Students are to pay 80 per cent of the total fee to be able to register, despite being under HECAS.
However, HATECO students have told EMTV News off camera that the past and continuing students never received any reimbursement, and this has been the practice for a number of years.
Students who attended HATECO in the past were never given book allowances. In light of this the student body went on strike last year, prompting the school to give them their allowances.
Meanwhile, Deputy School Principal, Kom Dai brushed away the students sentiments, saying the school had always refunded the students money.
Dai also said that HECAS students have the right to receive their book allowances, and the school had been putting the refund into the student’s bank accounts.
The government’s TESAS scholarship covers 75 per cent of the total tuition fee, with benefits that include return airfares, lodging, and book allowance for students who have performed well academically.
Meanwhile, continuing students have raised concerns of the same meal diet of rice, fish and cabbage, which are served in the mess.
They are calling on the school to change the diet, since it is in a vegetable rich area.
