Federal education minister Simon Birmingham announced on Tuesday university students would absorb a 7.5 per cent hike on course fees during the next four years and the government would cut its support by 10 per cent.

As a result, universities would have to absorb a 2.5 per cent shortfall.

CSU vice-chancellor Professor Andrew Vann estimated a $8-9 million shortfall for the university.

“The government is making out like we’ve got more money than we need but that’s not true,” he said.

“We understand the government’s need to address budget repair, however at a time when the government is pursuing substantial corporate tax cuts, we remain concerned that increased costs will be borne directly by students.”

He said some of the marginal courses might have to be reviewed and although he did not believe the changes would have a critical impact, he hoped the cuts would not become an ongoing trend.

“From our point of view, we would hope this doesn’t put people off because we’ve got the best graduate employment rate in the country and higher education is still a good investment,” he said.

He believed students’ expectations would be “sharper” the more they had to pay for their degrees, but while students might consider their course choices more carefully rather than transferring as their life goals changed, he did not think behaviour would change dramatically.

“In an ideal world, you would get a perfect fit, but I don’t think we live in an ideal world,” he said.

Another change would see a reduction in the income threshold for graduates to start paying back their HELP loans from $50,000 a year down to $42,000.

“The repayments at $42,000 are quite low, it starts at one per cent,” Professor Vann said.