Emma Clancy
It's official — the fees university students in Australia are paying for their education are second only to those paid by students in the United States. According to a report issued on September 12 by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), on average Australian university students are paying $5033 a year for their education, while the average fee paid in the US is $6000.
The report, Education at a Glance 2006, also found that Australia was the only OECD member country that reduced investment in higher education between 1995 and 2003. Public investment in Australia was cut by 7% over that period, while other OECD countries raised their level of public spending by an average of 48%.
The report comes after the August release of the Good Universities Guide 2007 revealed that some full-fee degrees in Australian universities had blown out to the phenomenal cost of $237,000. This is higher than the average mortgage. University of NSW vice-chancellor Fred Hilmer told the August 15 Australian: "Is [a UNSW medicine degree] worth that much? It clearly is because some people are prepared to pay it."
The inequality this situation fosters, where only the very wealthy can afford such full-fee places and the majority of students in Commonwealth-supported (HECS) places face ever-rising fees and long-term debt, is a result of the Howard government's drive to deregulate universities and develop a US-style user-pays system.
According to a September 13 Australian Labor Party media release, "The massive increases in university fees under the Howard government are forcing up the total debts faced by students and graduates by $2 billion a year" and the "new Senate estimates [committee] figures from the Department of Education, Science and Training show university graduates and students will owe $18.8 billion by 2008-09".
In 2003, the Howard government's higher education "reform" package paved the way for universities to increase their fees by 30%. Not surprisingly, this year the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee reported a "decline in applications over the last three years from a high of 229,427 in 2003 to 218,529 in 2006".
The government's "voluntary student unionism" legislation, which came into effect on July 1, is aimed at severely limiting student organisations' means of resisting the privatisation of higher education and standing up for their rights.
As well as facing mounting debt, students are also being forced to live in poverty while they study. The August 14 ABC TV 7.30 Report program examined the effect that the lack of government support for students has on the lives of young people, pointing out that the government's student allowance comes to less than two-thirds of the poverty line. National Union of Students president Rose Jackson pointed out on the program that 60% of university students now live in poverty, and 80% of students are forced to work to supplement their income, which has a detrimental effect on their studies.