Student Numbers Tumble

Sun Herald

Sunday July 18, 2004

By AMY LAWSON EDUCATION REPORTER

THE number of students leaving school and going direct to university has dropped to its lowest level in a decade with HECS fees and a buoyant jobs market taking the blame.

An investigation by The Sun-Herald shows that the rising Higher Education Contribution Scheme fees and a smaller gap between the earning power of graduates and non-graduates are deterring students from pursuing a degree.

The number of students going straight from school to university has fallen by 10,000 since 1996 to last year's 64,675, figures from the Department of Education, Science and Training reveal.

With most public universities opting to increase HECS fees by 25 per cent from next year, students are looking at more financially viable alternatives such as TAFE and private universities and colleges.

And while the income threshold at which students have to start making repayments has risen more than $10,000 to $35,000, some education experts fear the debt burden will effectively price out poorer students from university.

The former head of the Department of Education, Science and Training's higher education division, Michael Gallagher, said the increasing cost burden on students was "an outdated as well as perverse agenda".

"These barriers that we're putting in making it more expensive is going to discourage people from investing [in their education]," he said.

"From a public policy point of view, what the Government is doing is really, really dangerous, because it's creating barriers for young people's access to higher education when they should be making it easier."

Mr Gallagher, who is now the head of policy and planning at the Australian National University, said the salary differential between people with a bachelor's degree and those without was declining making a university education less appealing.

Experts blame the falling enrolment figures on the increasing cost of a degree, along with rising entrance scores and the trend for universities to favour mature-aged and full-fee paying applicants.

National Union of Students president Jodie Jansen said: "We've seen some proof already that the percentages of students from low socio-economic backgrounds are decreasing in the more expensive HECS bands, so fewer and fewer students from low socio-economic backgrounds are choosing to study law or dentistry, for example."

A spokesman for federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson said the available evidence suggested HECS did not deter students from undertaking study "because it's an interest-free loan that students only need to pay back when they're earning more than $35,000". He said the Higher Education Reform Package had created full-time scholarships worth up to $24,000 for 34,000 young people from remote and poorer circumstances, which was "in excess of what most of their HECS debts will be".

Careers Advisers Association of NSW president Mike Geeves said rapidly rising Universities Admissions Index cut-offs, rather than increased HECS fees, were forcing students to consider tertiary options other than university.

"I think HECS is an issue but I don't think it's an issue kids particularly think about at this stage," Mr Geeves said. "They just accept that you pay for things."

But he said one of the effects of increasing HECS fees had been that private universities once considered the domain of rich kids who didn't get the marks to go elsewhere were now seen as an affordable alternative to public universities.

Labor's education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin has promised to reverse the HECS rises if her party was elected.

"Ever-increasing debt under the Howard Government is putting more and more young Australians off going to university," Ms Macklin said.

Cheaper in the long run

FRANCES Dwyer comes from a long line of university graduates. But when it came to her own tertiary education, the 22-year-old decided a private college was the most suitable and financially viable choice.

"Even though any course is going to cost a lot of money, I figured out how much a uni course was going to cost me over three years versus getting something out of the way in one year and it just worked out a lot cheaper," she said.

Ms Dwyer paid about $13,000 for her 12-month advanced diploma in marketing and public relations at APM Training Institute.

"It definitely was the cheapest in the long run for me," she said.

"I thought, 'That course is going to pay for itself less than six months after I get a full-time position.' So it's only a short-term investment compared to what I would have had with HECS."

She now works as a marketing co-ordinator for the Australian Red Cross Blood Service.

Debt-free diploma

RENEE Casey (right) is just 19, but she has already finished her tertiary education, is out in the workforce and almost debt free.

Not wanting to have a HECS debt for years to come, Ms Casey chose to undergo her tertiary education at a private college and expects to have it paid off by next year.

Unlike many young Australians who are forced to live at home while they work off their university debt, Ms Casey plans to move out next year with no HECS burden.

After completing year 12 at Cronulla High School in 2002, Ms Casey did an advanced diploma in marketing, specialising in sports and entertainment management at APM Training Institute. The course took 12 months and cost $12,000. She now works in two part-time jobs in promotions and marketing.

"Of my friends from school, some didn't go to uni because they couldn't afford it and they didn't want to have that HECS debt," she said.

© 2004 Sun Herald

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