policy & reform
Students to feel the squeeze
The scrapping of Student Start-up Scholarships for new students from 2014 will inevitably see university students sacrificing study time for more paid work.
According to Roger Deutscher, manager of student housing and financial aid at the University of Melbourne, the loss of $ 2,050 per year would be significant for many students. The savings to government is expected to be $ 1.2 billion.
He said Youth and Austudy allowances were inadequate to meet the cost of living, especially for students living away from the family home.
“ We acknowledge that part time and casual work is a valid part of the student experience, however we prefer that students limit work to about 10 hours per week, although we see some students doing more than 20 hours.
“ About 70 per cent of students are already working at least 15 hours a week which has to impact on the students’ ability to engage with their studies.”
While the scholarships will convert to income-contingent loans, Deutscher said students from low income backgrounds would be most affected.
“ They won’ t have parental financial support to fall back on and they are often more reluctant to accept loans than students from higher income backgrounds.”
Stuart Martin, chair of the Student Financial Advisers Network, said he was also concerned for student welfare – particularly with the coalition threatening to scrap student services and amenities fees.
“ Two years of cuts will have an impact on all universities to fund the work we do with students, many of whom are right on the edge of poverty. Centrelink payments haven’ t moved much, they are still only indexed yearly instead of quarterly, and Youth and Austudy allowances are worse than the Newstart Allowance.”
He said the irony was that the Rudd and Gillard governments had made some positives changes in the past such as reducing the age of independence for Centrelink payment eligibility, introducing Student Start-Up and Relocation Scholarships, and increasing the income threshold before Centrelink payments were affected.
“ Cutting funding to higher education flies in the face of everything this government has said about preparing the nation to thrive in the Asian century,” said CPA Australia chief executive Alex Malley.
Martin said some universities can offer interest-free loans to their students to help with financial difficulties such as rental bond payments, textbooks and equipment.
However while the short term university loans may be more attractive than effectively adding to a HECS-HELP debt, he said universities may choose not to offer the loans to those students eligible for the loan version of the Start- Up Scholarship.
Both Deutscher and Martin agreed that the government’ s decision to cancel discounts for upfront payments and early repayments of HECS-HELP loans was not particularly concerning. The plan is expected to save about $ 228.5 million.“ Savings should not be sourced through a blunt instrument such as an efficiency dividend on higher education, as it will undermine the broader reforms undertaken in the sector in recent years,” said Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott. n
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www. campusreview. com. au May 2013 | 19