Reducing student debt and changes to when graduates start repaying their loans may be positive and significant steps to help tackle cost-of-living pressures – but a statement from Western Sydney University on Sunday 3 November described “unfinished business” that remains on the initial high cost of degrees.
The statement was a pointed response to the Federal Government’s planned changes to the minimum payment threshold under the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) and plans to reduce student debt by 20 per cent.
“These are extremely welcome steps, but we urge the Federal Government to go further to fix our broken higher education system. We continue to call for immediate action to deal with the root of the debt spiral problem,” says Western Sydney University’s Vice-Chancellor, Distinguished Professor George Williams AO.
“Reducing student debt and other changes to HELP will significantly ease financial pressure on our students, not only helping them and their families but also benefitting our Western Sydney community.”
Williams described the uni’s community as being at the epicentre of the cost-of-living crisis facing so many Australians, adding that “the system for setting student fees in the first place is broken and deeply unfair”.
“Today’s changes do nothing for new university students facing inflated fees.”
Calls for fairer approach to uni degree fees
To ensure the doors to opportunity are open for all students and the nation tackles intergenerational inequality, Williams says “we continue to call for a common-sense and fair approach to the initial cost of university degrees”.
“We are encouraged by the Prime Minister’s comments that the government will ‘work hard to deliver a better deal for every student in the years ahead,” he says.
“The legacy of the Coalition’s Job-ready Graduates Package means too many arts and humanities students continue to be priced out of even pursuing their dreams.
“The fact that a three-year arts degree now costs $50,000 is actively discouraging some students from considering or staying at university. Arts degrees are an entry point to university for Indigenous, low SES, and first-in-family students, along with many women.”
Williams says action is needed “on all fronts: student loan repayments and the overall cost of degrees”.
“Students cannot wait for a yet to be established Australian Tertiary Education Commission to potentially deal with the high cost of arts and humanities courses, we need to fix this unfinished business now.”
