Outside the Mainstream: Defence University Sponsorship

This Defence University Sponsorship (DUS)  blog is the first in a series of articles exploring university options ‘Outside the Mainstream’. 

Step 1: Do a Law degree.

Step 2: Work 60 hour weeks for the next 45 years trying to ‘make it’.

Step 3: Retire.

If you pay attention to the conversations of high-achievers in State Libraries around the country, or the confident students waltzing around the city with a Boost Juice in their hands, you’ll hear plans that sound eerily like the one outlined above.

It’s the stock-standard set of life goals, inoculating our most talented young people from the risk of failure. “Get a good degree, at a good uni; get a good job, and have a good life”. That’s the plan.

But… isn’t there more than that? There has to be more than that. We’re a part of the most exciting and fast-paced generation in human history, but so many of our most talented, beautiful friends seem to hold such narrow ideas of what their life could be. You know the type. They’re sickening. They’re brilliant, kind, supportive, dominate any sport they ever try. They’re the friends we don’t even want to be, because we don’t know how they do it. But despite being the people we look up to – even revere – these are the people who society pressures into awfully narrow course choices.

And that’s if they even get to Step 2 after completing Step 1!

Thinking outside the box

Already, there’s a deluge of students graduating from university with top degrees… only to have to work in retail or in hospitality for years. An even higher proportion are outright bailing on university before they graduate to instead discuss on Facebook all the ways in which the Baby Boomers have royally screwed us over. But fair enough – for all the social and educational wonders it holds, university can be spirit-breakingly tough. At the end of the day, we’re under enormous pressure than ever to do a degree, particularly since university places became uncapped, and bachelor degrees become the level of educational attainment that high-school used to be.

That’s why I am determined to explore options that are Outside the Mainstream. Personally, I started in Arts/Education, then changed to Arts/Science, then got sucked into this narrow idea of the world before changing once again to Arts/Law. In the end, I dropped out of Law to work for ATAR Notes; I could have saved myself a lot of heartache if I just did a straight Arts degree from the get-go. So whilst ATAR Notes has profiled some of the “normal” degrees like doing Med at Monash, I want to shine a light on programs, institutions, and current university students that are outside our usual box.

First up is what I find to be an extremely intriguing program called ‘Defence University Sponsorship‘. And I say intriguing because it comes with some aspects that you’ll really like, and some aspects that you might not.

The good news

I’ll give you the good news first. The Defence University Sponsorship (DUS) is a scholarship program offered through the Australian Defence Force (ADF) where you study a degree as per usual at your chosen institution. Once you’ve completed at least one semester of university, you are eligible to apply for the program by applying for a role in the Navy, Army or Air Force. Then you continue as you would have done, going to the usual lectures and talking to the usual people – you’re still a regular university student. However, as a DUS student you graduate university  debt-free. There are no fees and you have the ability to concentrate on your studies without the added hassle of worrying about money.  This means that, while I have a $19,874 debt to my name for the piece of paper I’m yet to receive, those students sponsored under the DUS program will have barely any debt – fees, textbooks, and even dental costs(?!) are all paid for. The ADF will subsidise your rent, too.

And that’s on top of getting paid a full-time salary for doing literally nothing other than studying your degree, which you’d obviously be doing anyway.  To take stock… this means that, whilst a regular university student accrues about seven thousand dollars worth of debt for each year they study, a DUS student gets paid well over forty thousand dollars a year, every single year they’re in the program – putting the average sponsored student a good $100k+ up on their peers. Those talented people I spoke about earlier who usually end up doing Med, Law, or Engineering? They stand to make even more.

Clearly, the DUS is stupidly beneficial, almost to the point of incomprehension.

And clearly, it comes with some sort of catch. Let’s talk about that now.

The minimum term of service

Long story short, for every year you’re a sponsored student, you give those years back to the Defence Force after you graduate, plus one additional year. So, if you’re a sponsored student for 2 years, you perform 3 years of service. If you’re a sponsored student for 3 years, you perform 4 years of service – whether that be as a doctor, an engineer, or even a Business graduate, you serve for the amount of time you were sponsored for, and then an additional year on top of that.

DUS students make this commitment when they are sponsored under the program throughout their university studies. You’re basically making the bet that you want to work in your field after graduation. Now, the minimum term of service is an interesting one. I’m sure we’ve all thought of joining the Defence Force at one stage or another – serving the country, finding a career with stability and growth, getting paid a decent salary, and that sort of stuff… Although, these thoughts normally lead to the idea of “yeah, but I’d have to commit”, which pretty quickly douses the flame.

Commitment is such a scary thing. I’ve been in a relationship with my partner for over five years, but we didn’t sit down at the start and commit to a minimum term of service. It was sort of a day-by-day thing, and the length of time just ‘happens’. That’s how most full-time jobs operate, or even part-time jobs for that matter. I spent a good four years of my life working at McDonald’s – but I didn’t commit to anything at the start.

Rounding off

Personally, I’m not the best with the whole idea of commitment. For me, sometimes it happens (McDonald’s), sometimes it doesn’t (four degrees) – but I won’t lie, commitments freak me out. Yet, it seems to me like they’re pretty unavoidable, whichever way you slice it.

I mean, every year, a large proportion of Medical students sign a contract that says “I will work in a rural area after my degree, but PLEASE just let me in!”

Every year, thousands of Law students commit to larger than average HELP-debts, and commit to the idea that they’ll work like a slave for 5 years before they even get paid enough to cover that debt.

And every year, there are Engineering students who commit themselves to a defined career path in the STEM industries because they know they’ll make some serious cash and learn interesting stuff at the same time.

So, in the face of such phenomenal compensation by DUS, could the commitment to work in that field for three years after the degree be worth it?

For this humbly unemployable Philosophy graduate – no. But for those brilliant, kind, supportive young people walking down the City centre with a Boost juice in their hands and the world at their fingertips?

Maybe.

Check here to see if your degree qualifies, and you can make that call yourself.

 Do you know of any Outside the Mainstream courses people should know about? Do you want to publish an article and challenge conventional thought at the same time? Send us a message!

UNI NOTES: UNIVERSITY RESOURCES AND REVIEWS