Study And Save

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday August 14, 2003

By Aban Contractor

The Government's proposed higher university fees will not affect this year's HSC students.

As a high school student you might find it hard to believe that you are one of the lucky ones. But if a spot at university is your goal, lucky you are.

The class of 2003 will be the last to enter the hallowed halls of academe under the old rules.

So, if you do well in the forthcoming Higher School Certificate exams and are lucky enough to get a place at university, you need not worry about being charged higher fees. People entering university in 2004 are exempt.

And, according to the Department of Education, Science and Training, you might also be eligible for a Commonwealth Learning Scholarship to help with the cost of accommodation and educational needs while studying.

But there is a catch. If you fail to finish your degree within four years or leave university and come back, all bets are off.

When the federal Education Minister, Brendan Nelson, announced his proposed changes in the May budget he also issued a lot of glossy brochures. The one entitled "Higher Education Reforms: Information for Students" outlines the effect on people beginning courses in 2004.

"Current Higher Education Contribution Scheme students and HECS students commencing in 2004, both full-time and part-time, will be able to study under current HECS contribution levels until the end of 2008, unless they discontinue their enrolment," the brochure says.

What exactly does that mean? Firstly, if the Government gets the legislation to implement its proposed restructure through the Senate - and it may not - you cannot be charged an extra 30 per cent in tuition costs.

But, if you choose to pay HECS upfront, the discount will drop from 25 per cent to 20 per cent on January 1, 2005. Or if you or your parents want to take advantage of the bonus on voluntary payments over $500, be prepared for a smaller discount. It drops from 15 per cent to 10 per cent.

And, in 2005, the Government plans to introduce "a suite of income contingent loans for Australian citizens and holders of Australian permanent humanitarian visas" to help with the payment of tuition fees. It will be called the Higher Education Loan Program or HELP.

Most students will access HECS-HELP. But those who fail to gain high enough Universities Admissions Index scores for prestige courses such as law, medicine, dentistry, veterinary science or any other popular course and opt instead to become full fee-paying students will, for the first time, have access to government loans of up to $50,000. This facility will be called FEE-HELP.

Full-time students studying overseas for one or two semesters will be able to apply for OS-HELP, loans of up to $10,000.

But all of this is dependent on the Government getting its legislation through a senate it does not control. Right now it is preparing legislation that is unlikely to see the light of day before late September. And with Labor, the Democrats and the Greens refusing to come to the party, Nelson is trying to woo four independent senators who have already flagged their displeasure at the possibility of higher fees. But senators have been wooed before.

So, as student representatives prepare for a debate that will consume the sector for the remainder of the year, the National Union of Students is warning its members of tougher times ahead.

Its president, Daniel Kyriacou, says the average full-time student is now working 15 hours a week, but 40 per cent work more than 16 hours and 18 per cent work 21 hours or more. Between 1994 and 1999 the number of first-year students who relied on work as their main source of income had increased by 11 per cent to 37 per cent. And, of those who live alone, a third pay more than half their income in rent.

Students and graduates now owe more than $9 billion in HECS debts and about one in 10 students has taken out loans to study of close to $4000.

David Hughes, a fourth-year law student at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), works 24 hours a week at a law firm. He says everyone is conscious of the difficulties many students now face when they begin their tertiary education.

"It's not always easy but there are lots of societies - the student guild, student union and sports association - that do a lot to help, especially first-year students," he says.

Hughes, who is also a student representative on the university's governing body, the council, says universities also provide counselling services and at UNSW there is a learning centre where students are taught how to conduct research, prepare essays or write scientific reports.

With more than 600,000 students in the nation's 38 publicly funded universities, vice-chancellors are conscious of the need to sell their wares. Every year more courses make it on to the curriculum - from philosophy to surfing to archaeology.

Next year the University of Wollongong will have new courses in nanotechnology to target the emerging fields of nano-materials, molecular machines and nano-science.

Frances Morgan, the course promotions officer at the University of Technology, Sydney, which caters for high numbers of students studying part-time, says there is a lot of emphasis on getting a high university entrance score.

"But there are other pathways to university," she says. "UTS has recently introduced a bachelor of management in tourism and hospitality that's linked directly to the diploma in hospitality (management) at TAFE NSW."

It is an 18-month degree designed to build on the vocational skills and knowledge acquired by the TAFE hospitality management students and is available only to candidates who have completed

the TAFE diploma at credit level or higher.

© 2003 Sydney Morning Herald

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