Higher Education

ALP says no to uni fee hike

A media statement by Simon Crean - Leader of the Opposition and Jenny Macklin - Deputy Leader of the Opposition Shadow Minister for Education, Employment and Training media statement on higher education reform.

Today I announce three initiatives to make education more affordable for young Australians:

A Crean Labor Government will oppose outright the deregulation of university fees and abolish full fees for Australian undergraduates.
A Crean Labor Government will abolish the Howard Government's real interest rate student loans.
A Crean Labor Government will lift the HECS threshold - the income graduates earn before they start repaying HECS - from the present level of just over $25,000 to $35,000.
John Howard's education policy released in the Budget continues the deregulation of education by:

Allowing universities to increase student fees by 30 percent;
Allowing universities to double the number of Australians students who pay full-fees of up to $150,000 for their undergraduate studies;
Introducing new loans for students charging them real rates of interest; and
Imposing a real rate of interest on loans provided to postgraduate students.
To pay these extra fees, students will have to take out loans and pay six per cent interest. For the first time, they will be forced to pay real levels of interest that will compound year after year in the crucial early years of their working life.

Our young people will be left to choose between missing out on higher education or drowning in debt, putting off for even longer buying a home and starting a family.

While John Howard is doubling the number of Australian students who could pay full-fees for their undergraduate education, Labor will abolish full fees for Australian undergraduates and scrap the Howard Government's real interest rate student loans.

Labor will lift the HECS threshold to $35,000 - bringing it in line with graduate starting salaries. This will lower the financial burden of university education for Australian students.

The contrast in priorities is clear:

John Howard is allowing universities to double the number of full-fee paying undergraduate students in Australia - I'm abolishing them.
John Howard is putting our students and their families into debt; I'm taking that burden of debt off our young Australians.
John Howard is allowing universities to put up fees for our students by 30 percent; I'm making education for all our kids more affordable.
This policy is fully costed and fully funded and unlike the Government's will not raise fees on students.

The funding will be detailed when Labor's University and TAFE policies are fully announced in a few weeks time.

© 2001 Community & Public Sector Union - State Public Services Federation (CPSU-SPSF) - National Office

http://www.cpsu-spsf.asn.au/latest_news/higher_ed/20030707_education.html
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005