Albo’s government considers major HECS shake-up to make studying cheaper for millions of Aussies

A major shake-up of the student loan system is being considered as the Albanian government finalizes its next budget, after the biggest overhaul of Australia’s higher education system in 15 years led to major reforms.

The Universities Accord review, published on Sunday, calls on the federal government to double the number of university places by 2050, reduce tuition fees for certain subjects and increase the country’s tertiary education rate from 60 percent to 80 percent in the next 25 years. year.

The study, conducted by former NSW chief scientist Mary O’Kane, calls for the need for “significant change”, warning that “small reforms… will not be enough”.

Ms O’Kane urged reforms to the HECS system to soften the impact of high inflation on repayments, and recommended a review of banks’ lending practices so that HECS debt does not impact home lending capacity.

Education Minister Jason Clare said the government is considering the report’s 47 recommendations, including making changes to the HELP program, formerly known as HECS.

“The report says HECS should be simpler and fairer,” he told ABC’s Insiders.

“Bruce Chapman, the architect of HECS, helped the panel with a recommendation saying there are ways to reduce upfront payments for people on lower incomes… someone with an income of $75,000 would pay about $1,000 less each year.

“(That’s) something that could give people an immediate cost-of-living benefit once they graduate college and enter the workforce.”

The government will also consider a recommendation to link indexation to the wage price index, instead of the consumer price index.

Mr Clare said he would put proposals to the Spending Review Committee, but indicated the work needed to reform the higher education system for the future would take years.

‘We can’t do all this at once. This is bigger than one budget, but we must now start laying the foundations for long-term reforms,” he said.

The review outlines ‘ambitious’ targets, including increasing the proportion of university-educated Australians aged 25 to 34 from 45 per cent to 55 per cent by 2050, and increasing the broader proportion of tertiary graduates from the current 60 per cent to 80 percent by mid-2050. century.

To achieve this increase, the government would need to double the number of Commonwealth-supported university students from 860,000 to 1.8 million by 2050, the study found.

It will provide a boost for more Indigenous students and students from regional and poorer backgrounds to go to university.

Other recommendations outline how students can be better supported during their studies, including a ‘job broker’ to help students find part-time work and work experience, and the greater availability of free preparation courses.

It also recommended financial support for compulsory internships, more accessible income support and the abolition of the ‘job-ready graduates’ scheme, which made arts studies so expensive, in favor of courses based on the student’s lifetime income.

As for international students, the review called for less reliance on a handful of source countries and recommended that more international students study on regional campuses.

The panel recommended the government set new targets for how much Australia spends on finance and development as a percentage of GDP, and set up a fund to help universities solve the major challenges facing the country.

A new needs-based funding system was also recommended to provide additional funding to universities educating students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The research, conducted by former NSW chief scientist Mary O’Kane, has called for the need for ‘significant change’ and warns that ‘small reforms… will not be enough’. Students are pictured at UNSW in Sydney

Education Minister Jason Clare (pictured) said the Government is considering the report’s 47 recommendations, including making changes to the HELP programme, previously known as HECS.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said reforming the higher education sector was crucial to preparing Australia for the future.

“We need to plan for the jobs of the future, which means giving people the skills and knowledge they need,” he told Channel 9.

“We are focused on more Australians gaining a university or TAFE qualification to fill jobs, stimulate the economy and provide a good quality of life.

“It is very important that we support education, which my government is doing.”