The cost of Education

Some University degrees now cost about the same as a average Australian mortgage according to 2008 Good Universities Guide.  As the average Australian mortgage is far more then $100,000 clearly the Prime Minister didn’t mean  there wouldn’t be any higher than $100,000 when he said;

“The Government will not be introducing an American-style higher education system. There will be no $100,000 university fees under this Government.”

.Last year 60 courses cost more than $100,000. Maybe he was practicing for his next big election promise – low interest rates anyone ?

As for Howard’s successor , Costello seems quite happy to compare us to the USA ;

The Treasurer describes the present system as “generous” and has pointed out that in the United States, students forked out more than $100,000 and rely on banks to lend them the money.

The USA education system wasn’t good enough for Howard in 1999, but seems to suit Costello fine in 2007. As the USA features near the bottom of world education affordability and standards rankings personally I don’t think its good enough and doubt other students do either.  If the treasurer and wannabe prime minister insists on comparing Australia to the USA he should  remember that the USA government spends more on education than the Australian government. Though apparently not very efficiently.

The Howard Government has maintained that students only contribute one-quarter of their course costs. However in this proportion the government includes its own funding to universities unpaid HECS debts. Most students will pay this money back to the government making students’ contribution to the cost of their education , on average, 40 per cent. For law students, it’s 84 per cent.

In fact Law students sharing the top HEC’s rates with medicine, dentistry and veterinary science, often pay more than the actual cost of their degree. I doubt many Law students find that possibility very surprising, after all anyone seen the Legal equivalent of high-tech medical equipment in a law school ? Makes me wonder where my yearly $8333 is going.

Labor has promised to phase out domestic full-fee degrees at public Universities commencing 1 January 2009 in order to ensure ” access for all young Australian students based on merit, rather than financial mean” . This raises the question how Labor will compensate financially stricken universities for the lost student revenue.

Labor’s new education spokesman Stephen Smith says only that “HECS relief” would be done in a “financially responsible way”, presumably by taking money from other programs or from a budget surplus.

Hopefully ones of those other program won’t be public health. I doubt even Peter Costello would willingly compare the Australian health system to the USA one.

More information

THE AUSTRALIAN

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

STEPHEN SMITH – MEDIA RELEASE – UNI DEGREE COSTS AN AVERAGE AUSTRALIAN MORTGAGE – 14 AUGUST 2007

JET childcare assistance campaign

On June 25th the Guild held a Media Conference and Forum on the changes by the federal Government to JET. The forum was organised by Womans officer Clare Middlemas and Murdoch student and single parent Peta Miller. JET is a program which provides childcare assistance for single parents that are studying by paying most of the ‘gap fee’ not covered by Child Care Benefit for the hours of care needed to do approved activities. . Childcare is extremely expensive and often unaffordable for single parents who are studying.

Last July the federal government made changes to program, making parents studying courses which exceed 12 months not eligible for any childcare assistance. This change in legislation is very discriminatory. It gives extra support to single parents, that are studying a short course, that will accordingly get them into a menial, low paid job. It traps many single parents and their children in a cycle of poverty.

The Forum was well attended by students, politicians, union bosses and the media, including Rachel Siewart, Greens Senator, Jock Ferguson, Secretary of the AMWU, Louise Pratt, ALP MLA, and Pendo Mwaketele, Chair of Women’s at Curtin.

As a direct result the government announced they would henceforth relax the policy a little and give all single parents, regardless of their entire course duration, 12 months worth of assistance.

However, though this is a great victory, it is far from being sufficient. Under this change single parents will only be covered by JET for a twelve month period, after which they will once again find themselves back in the exact same situation they were in just weeks ago.

The ALP has publicly stated it would look to ensure in its pre-election policies that JET would be sorted to provide appropriate childcare subsidies for single parents to stay in and complete their education. Greens Senator Rachel Siewert has spoken about the issue in parliament .

If you are a single parent or are simply interested in the issue please contact me on basha.stasak@gmail.com and I can put in touch with the relevant people.