Within New Zealand, Adult and Community Education providers are facing radical reductions in government support. Providers are reacting in different ways with many being forced to withdraw from offering non-credit education at affordable rates. This paper explores the likely consequences, in terms of changes in learner profile, of efforts to maintain the viability of programs through increased fees. The research explores strategies for maintaining student numbers and access despite substantial fee increases. The work is based on a survey of over 550 university community education learners and uses approaches derived from consumer decision-making research. The results suggest that fee increases will contribute to a shift towards community education being an activity limited to the better off but that measures are available that will go some way to safeguard learner numbers and access.
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