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March 29, 2024, 05:19:23 am

Author Topic: Greens proposal for free uni and tafe  (Read 1443 times)  Share 

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PhoenixxFire

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Greens proposal for free uni and tafe
« on: December 13, 2018, 11:56:37 am »
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Quote
The Greens want to scrap universities and TAFE fees, while also increasing funding by 10 per cent in a plan estimated to cost $133 billion over a decade.

The minor party's proposal would generate $139 billion in the same period through whacking offshore gas companies with a 10 per cent tax and ending fuel excise paid to mining companies.

A 10 per cent boost to university funding would be tied to increases in job security, while course fees' abolition would allow 1.3 million to study debt-free by 2023.

The HELP repayment threshold would be tied to the median wage, meaning students with existing debts won't begin giving money back until they earn $52,990 on 2019 figures.

Support payments like Youth Allowance, Austudy and Abstudy would go up by $75 a week with all postgraduate students made eligible for Austudy.
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Imo, it's a good idea - it seems like they've actually thought this one through a bit more given they've worked out costs and such, as opposed to some of their other proposals haha.

I've yet to find a decent article on it though, so I really don't know as much about their plan and its implications as I would like.

What do you guys think? Can you see any problems with it?
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Orb

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Re: Greens proposal for free uni and tafe
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2018, 01:46:28 pm »
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I'm personally not that much of a fan of scrapping uni fees altogether, it makes student invest in their degree and is at least slightly correlated with more effort put into uni. Students wouldn't care as much about failing subjects if it was completely free.

I'd love to see more money invested into supporting students who wouldn't be able to afford it to attend university rather than giving free education to everyone.
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Aaron

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Re: Greens proposal for free uni and tafe
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2018, 02:02:05 pm »
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As someone who comes from a disadvantaged background and now has a $40k+ HECS debt, I would've loved to see this. A lack of HECS debt would've helped reduce at least one of my financial burdens at the moment, haha. But unfortunately at the same time I agree with Orb in the sense that there is a consequence for choosing units and ensures students think about their academic decisions.

In VIC the state govt have introduced free TAFE for priority skills/courses... so the argument for that is less weighted (from a VIC perspective, anyway). I definitely think if I had to choose between TAFE or Uni becoming free, it would 100% hands down be TAFE.

I think the key goal here is accessibility - from my perspective as a disadvantaged student I got knocked back from all the scholarships I applied for..... which kinda defeats the entire purpose of a disadvantage-based scholarship. I had to then go on & use Youth Allowance to support myself. I was the first in my family to even attend university - which gives you a picture as to the disadvantage. The HECS-HELP system is a great starting point for accessibility, but there's alot more that can be done.

Bridging the gap between those who take 10+ years to pay off their HECS vs. a financially-able student who can pay it off almost immediately imo is a priority.

Eh... unless you face(d) disadvantage you just can't begin to see how it impacts.

I've been out of uni altogether for nearly 2 years now and i've only paid off about $1,500 or so from my HECS. The system also works in a way where the repayments taken out of your pay are actually quite low overall. I earned $65k in my first year out and the repayments were only about $120 a fortnight back... so without voluntary contributions, you're gonna be there for a while.

yes i know the math doesn't add up, I got all my HECS payments back cos I was under the threshold. Decided to allocate $1,500 to HECS and save rest
« Last Edit: December 13, 2018, 09:58:06 pm by Aaron »
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vox nihili

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Re: Greens proposal for free uni and tafe
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2018, 06:27:52 pm »
+5
Didn't see this when it popped up, but free Uni/TAFE is super regressive :)))) by and large the majority of people who go to uni are from wealthy backgrounds, so rather than actually improve social mobility it actually allocates limited government resources to the wealthiest young people and, by necessity, therefore prevents at least some resources being used in poorer households. Much more sensible alternatives would look at education in the younger years, probably before and during primary school. Far less regressive.

EDIT: my contribution here wasn't particularly eloquent, but this article covers the arguments well in the UK context.
« Last Edit: December 17, 2018, 06:37:55 pm by vox nihili »
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Professor Polonsky

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Re: Greens proposal for free uni and tafe
« Reply #4 on: December 25, 2018, 03:18:21 am »
0
Move away from fees towards a graduate tax. You benefited from an education, pay some of it back.