Customer story: Victoria University, NZ

Spending on student services

Students at Victoria University pay a levy each year that contributes towards student services. The University administration and VUWSA (Students Association) wanted to find out what students thought of the mix of these services available to them.

The student services supported by the levy cover areas such as health, counselling and careers advice. The University wanted to see how students would prioritise these services. They also wanted to give students visibility on how the existing balance of spending in different areas, in order to ensure an informed response.

Victoria University opted for Simulator

Simulator lets people try their hand at the challenge of balancing a budget, adjusting real data on spending and consequences to reflect their preferences.

Victoria University's Student Levy Simulator allowed students to suggest how much levy funding should go towards each service, while seeing the consequences of their decisions. They were also given the opportunity to suggest additional student services towards which their levy could contribute.

Stephanie Hunter, Manager in Student Finance at the University, said 'it was valuable that the Simulator made students think about the student services we offer, as well as the consequences of making changes. Students commented on how refreshing it was to fill out a visual survey for a change, and how they appreciated being able to have their say.'

Ultimately, more than 15 percent of Victoria University students participated in the Student Levy Simulator exercise. This provided the University with valuable feedback, both in the form of students' proposed budgets and the free text comments submitted via the Simulator. The results constituted one of several inputs in the future planning of services funded by the Student Services Levy at Victoria.