CUTS to education funding are contributing to an increase in student fees at Catholic schools in Sydney and forcing others in NSW to review their financial support for students to attend World Youth Day celebrations in Rio de Janeiro.

The diocese of Broken Bay in the Pennant Hills area has increased fees by 5.7 to 6 per cent this year, instead of the usual 5 per cent. In a letter to parents, the director of schools of the Catholic Schools Office, Peter Hamill, said the changes were necessary to meet cost increases and ''to compensate for the freeze on grants from the state government which were announced in 2012''.

''Tax on independent schools'' … John Robertson. Credit:Ben Rushton

Schools in the Sydney Catholic education system will raise student fees by 4.2 per cent this year, up from last year's 3.7 per cent increase. A spokesman for the diocese said the rise was due to the annual increase in education costs, which this year included the state government's $1.7 billion cut over four years in the education budget.

The Opposition Leader, John Robertson, said the Premier, Barry O'Farrell, ''has effectively imposed a tax on Catholic and independent schools, forcing them to push fees up''.

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''We are seeing fee increases more than double the inflation rate at many Catholic and independent schools due to Barry O'Farrell's cuts,'' he said. The Wollongong Catholic education system is reviewing the level of financial support it gives students to attend World Youth Day because it will lose about $1 million in funding this year.

The director of 78 Catholic schools in Parramatta, Greg Whitby, said his students would face fee increases this year at the usual level of about 5 per cent, but he could not make the same guarantee for the next three years.