UNIVERSITIES have rushed to oppose the Federal Government's funding cuts, claiming to defend the out-turned pockets of students across the nation.

It was a swift move, and a brilliant one, for the universities to spin this financial burden of theirs as an expense for students to bear.

As a poor uni student, with out-turned pockets of my own, I felt grateful at first, for the institution speaking up on my behalf.

But as my fees continue to increase and my faculty staff dwindle each year, the message from these institutions is clear; they pity us students, but only until it impacts on their bottom line.

How can universities pretend to relate to students, or be on the same side of a financial issue as them?

They're using public money and student fees, they're cutting staff and crying poor, all the while keeping their wallets fat.

Rather than operating as service providers to the community, universities have become corporations, and sinkholes for public money.

With their salaries ball- parked at $750,000, the decision-makers of these corporations have no right to speak defending my finances; they have no understanding of them.

The only problem I have with the proposed changes to university fees in this budget is with the way my educational institutions are preparing the media for the day they increase my fees, so they can pass the buck.