Fees have been frozen at their 2015 levels in a bid to lure back students to the struggling institution.

Since 2012, 83,000 fewer students have enrolled in TAFE NSW campuses, while fees in some courses have surged as much as seven times 2013 levels.

The move comes just three months after NSW Skills Minister John Barilaro refused to acknowledge the effect of fee hikes on enrolments at a NSW parliamentary inquiry into vocational education.

"It's like being in a morgue," one TAFE teacher wrote in a submission to the inquiry.

NSW TAFE teachers association president Phil Chadwick said that the government was trying to backtrack now that it had realised "it had made a very big mistake".

"It is a good start but it is a bandaid solution," Mr Chadwick said. "The high fees were the reason we saw the decrease in enrolments but the students are still going to have to pay them."

Courses in areas such as aged care surged nearly four times in price between $570 in 2014 and $2300 in 2015, while diplomas in information technology and electrical engineering saw similar rises.

Former TAFE student Patrick Wright told Fairfax Media he dropped out of his library technicians course after it quadrupled in price.  "I just couldn't justify the cost," the Cronulla local said last year.

Enmore design student Minta Furness echoed his disappointment at the time.

"The debt is just too great. It went up from $1200 last year to $12,000 this year, and you never know if you are going to be able to pay it back with the income from design," the 20-year-old said.

"Last year we had six classes of 15 students. This year [2015] we had one class of 10. I was shocked to see just how many people weren't there."

In a bid to stop empty classrooms from multiplying, fees will now be frozen at those 2015 levels.

Greens MP John Kaye said that the shift would stop the provider from "bleeding badly".

"If it turned students away last year then it will turn them away this year," he said.

TAFE teachers remain concerned about the much-maligned Department of Education's $576 million IT system's ability to cope with enrolments.

Last year, former TAFE managing director Pam Christie was forced to apologise for enrolment delays caused by the system.

"The problems with the system are still enormous," said Mr Chadwick. "[NSW Skills] Minister [John] Barilaro has promised support but we are yet to see it at the coalface."

"Support staff are being made redundant and teachers are being forced to enrol students," he said.

While more students may enrol this year, they will have 27 fewer buildings to go to according to NSW cabinet documents leaked in September.

One of them, Dapto TAFE just outside of Wollongong, was once home to 700 students, It is due to be vacated this week, according to Shellharbour Labor MP Anna Watson.

Others, including Epping and Chullora will soon follow, with some students forced to move into the beleaguered private vocational education sector.

A spokesman for TAFE NSW said that at this stage, 2016 enrolments were proceeding smoothly.

"As part of developing the TAFE NSW strategic asset management plan we are considering how Dapto campus will be used," he said.