Government Set to Double Price of Arts Degrees
Roisin Murphy reports
The Morrison Government announced a huge overhaul to tertiary education this morning, proposing some of the biggest changes to funding most current students have seen in their time studying.
According to the announcement made by the Education Minister, Dan Tehan, the price of humanities degrees will more than double, expected to cost $43,500 (an increase of 113%). Meanwhile, courses deemed by the Government as “job-relevant” and “useful” such as teaching, nursing, engineering and other STEM degrees will decrease in fee requirements, with some of them set to cost as low as $3,700 a year. Law degrees will be the most expensive, with the cost being set at $57,000.
The package can be seen as a redesign of the Commonwealth Grants Scheme to allow for some degrees to almost return to full-fee paying models. This is the case for Arts degrees, where the yearly Commonwealth contribution will decrease to $1,100, and students will pay $14,500.
The announcement will not impact current students, with the goal of the Government being to incentivise the soaring rates of year 12 students applying for 2021 placements in tertiary education to choose degrees they believe there is “expected growth in job opportunities”. It’s predicted that many school-leavers who would have usually chosen to spend the year engaging in travel or recreation will instead go straight to university. This jump in enrolments is likely to make it even harder to gain entry to university, with the fee change adding stress to hopeful students.
Jazzlyn Breen, one of the USyd SRC’s Education Officers, says that “making the price of higher education out of reach for low-SES students will have generational impacts, entrenching the economic inequalities found within the education sector even deeper”.
“Often an arts degree is an entry point for students coming from-low SES schools where high ATARs are not realistic, no matter how hard you try. These students are often among the first in their family to ever attend university, making a choice to take a risk that will hopefully be worth it with a well paying job at the end of their degree”, she noted in a statement to Pulp.
Many have criticised the Government for decreasing financial support for degrees which develop critical thinking skills, such as philosophy.
In speaking to the National Press Club today, Dan Tehan said “we want students to think critically… so if you are going to do philosophy, we want you to think about doing a language”.
The Minister is hoping that Universities will back the plan.