I used the 2015 fees of comparative departments at my current University in Germany (taken from my bank records) and the University at which I completed my Master's degree in New Zealand (taken from their website). I also added a line in which my German fees were converted to NZ$ at the current exchange rate (according to Google).
Some points to make:
In Germany, University courses are free to everyone, all you have to pay for is a few miscellaneous office costs and a portion of a transport card which allows you to use any form of public transport in your city (in Berlin an annual transport card would cost me about 947.99 €!). Additionally, I can actually claim my PhD fees back on my tax return as part of my further education required for my job, so I actually get most of my fees back.
I must admit that it has been a while since I was studying in New Zealand, but there are also some perks gained from being a student. There was a pretty impressive gym that was free of charge when I left. However mostly the perks that I remember are student discounts at restaurants, which, I think, speaks to my priorities at the time; eating all the food, working out to allow me to eat more food.
This was mostly just an exercise in curiosity, I don't think that New Zealand Universities are a rip-off; I do think that tertiary education in NZ is becoming more of a luxury, and as such is becoming less accessible to lower income families.
I don't know what the answer is, I hear the state of tertiary education in the U.S. is heading in the same direction.
I don't know how to end this post, it seems like a grim place to leave it here, but I guess the outlook for tertiary education in NZ is a little grim.
Unless we all move to Germany :)
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