More Cash For Student Loans Boosts Private Uni Numbers

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday April 9, 2005

Matthew Thompson Higher Education Reporter

Private universities have experienced a surge in enrolments in the first year of the Federal Government's new loan scheme, which allows students to borrow up to $50,000 to study at approved private institutions or in full-fee courses at public universities.

Bond University has reported a 29 per cent lift in first-year undergraduate enrolments, and overall enrolments in non-government institutions were up about 10 per cent on last year, said Tim Smith, the national executive officer of the Australian Council for Private Education and Training.

"There's been a massive [growth in] demand for places in private higher education institutions, which is almost directly attributable to the introduction of the FEE-HELP loan scheme."

The federal Department of Education estimates about $405 million will be handed out in FEE-HELP loans this year to about 105,000 full-fee-paying students at public universities and more than 11,000 students attending private colleges.

However, Labor's education spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin, said the scheme was economically irresponsible and would lead to a massive blow-out in unpaid debt.

Many loans might never be repaid, she said, citing departmental figures that showed about $2.5 billion of debt accumulated under the Higher Education Contribution Scheme was unlikely to be repaid.

At Bond University, where a law degree costs almost $90,000, 84 per cent of continuing domestic postgraduate students and 23 per cent of continuing domestic undergraduates have applied for FEE-HELP.

Almost 60 per cent of new domestic students at Bond have applied for a commonwealth loan.

Bond's vice-chancellor, Robert Stable, said FEE-HELP gave more students a choice between public and private higher education, "and quite frankly it's about time".

Students at public universities are also taking up the loans. Almost 70 per cent of new domestic undergraduates enrolling in full-fee courses at the University of NSW applied for FEE-HELP.

Domestic full-fee enrolments at the university had reached about 200 last week, an rise of more than a third since last year.

The undergraduate application rate was lower, at about 25 per cent, at the University of Sydney, where demand for full-fee places dropped from 2004 to 2005.

A university spokesman said the fall could be the result of the growth in HECS places.

© 2005 Sydney Morning Herald

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