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Canny southerners are going back to school to get cut-price season passes to the Treble Cone skifield.
The skifield's decision last year to raise prices for season passes has prompted Wanaka locals to exploit a loophole that gives students at the zero-fees Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) access to cut-price skiing.
As SIT students, they pay $399 for a ski pass, saving themselves a whopping $1300 for the season, The Press newspaper reported.
Treble Cone spokeswoman Anna Thomas said the number of student passes was up about 10 per cent on previous years, but she wouldn't provide numbers, citing commercial sensitivity.
A Wanaka mother said she had enrolled in a horticulture course with SIT.
While the catalyst was access to a cheap ski pass, she said she was interested in the subject and would complete the paper.
"The scam is when people enrol and then don't do (the course)," she said.
The woman, who wouldn't be named, said many people had tried to keep the rort quiet.
"But some people thought it was a joke and talked about it too idly. There's a big difference between paying $400 as opposed to $1700," she said.
Another local said Wanaka residents felt no guilt for taking advantage of the loophole because of the way Treble Cone had repaid years of support by doubling prices without warning last year.
An SIT spokesperson said there hadn't been a surge of students registering for long-distance learning from Wanaka, but the tertiary institution couldn't provide figures.
- NZPA
