Abstudy cuts decimate Batchelor College
By Marina Cameron
A report from Batchelor College, a university in the Northern Territory, to education minister Amanda Vanstone predicts that budget cuts to Abstudy will lead the institution to "implode".
The college is predicting that cuts to travel assistance and a four-week limit placed on accommodation allowances will cause its enrolments to drop by 80%. Students from remote areas will no longer be able to attend and complete intensive courses before returning to their communities.
Changes to Abstudy, which take effect in January, also restrict the number of courses for which the allowance is available. Many are predicting a massive decline in the participation of Aboriginal students in higher education.
The Australian on July 2 quoted the minister for Aboriginal affairs, John Herron, as saying that the changes "will more closely align the Abstudy conditions with Austudy". He then attempted to backtrack by stating, "Of course Abstudy will continue to provide much more generous benefits than the Austudy scheme. This is in recognition of the substantial educational disadvantage faced by indigenous Australians."
Not even the Liberals can ignore the fact that the year 12 retention rate for Aboriginal students is 25% (compared to 76% for the rest of the population); that only 6200 Aboriginal students were enrolled in higher education last year; and that six out of every 10 will quit before the end of their first year (compared with one in four for the rest of the population).
Paying lip service to this while cutting Abstudy is the height of hypocrisy.