HECS debt changes that Aussie students need to know about
HECS Debt Changes Aussie Students Should Know About
- 50 percent failure rule soon to be scrapped by university panel
- Students would lose their student loan rights if they fail half of their course
University students will soon be unable to pass half of their courses without access to government grants and loans.
The changes were announced on Wednesday in an interim report from the Australian Universities Accord Panel, which is charged with reforming Australia’s higher education system.
The previous rule, which meant that any student who failed more than half of his subject could no longer obtain student loans, was introduced by the Liberal government into the scheme for job-ready graduates.
Reversing the 50 percent fail rule is just one of five key actions the panel recommends Education Secretary Jason Clare take before they publish their final report.
The panel has told the government that Australian universities are currently ‘too unequal’, and is also recommending guaranteed scholarships for Indigenous Australians at universities and funding university hubs in regional and suburban areas.
A rule change from the Albanian government means university students will soon be able to miss half of their courses without losing their student loans (pictured, Sydney University)
The abolition of the 50 per cent pass rule was supported by Universities Australia, the industry’s highest body, which described it as a ‘penal measure widely regarded as unnecessarily harsh’.
‘Universities report that the students most likely to encounter the 50 per cent pass rule are freshmen of low socio-economic status,’ reads a review from Universities Australia to the panel.
‘The 50 percent pass rule is therefore not only ineffective, but is also at odds with the fairness goals of the government and universities.’
The mid-term review agreed with the rule’s impact on lower socioeconomic students, deeming it ‘disproportionate’ [disadvantaged] students with an equity background’.
“The review believes that bold, long-lasting change is needed to fulfill the mission of higher education in Australia.
‘The change in the sector must be radical. Complacency cannot be tolerated’
Mr Clare announced that the Albanian government would commit $66.9 million to build 34 university centers in regional and suburban areas across the country to give a greater number of young Aussies a ‘crack’ in higher education.
‘If you drive through Western Sydney, you will see a lot of McDonald’s and KFC logos, but not many university logos. If you can’t see it, you can’t be it,” Clare said at a conference on Tuesday.
The 50 percent failure rule was implemented by then-Liberal education minister Dan Tehan and was found to have ‘disproportionately’ affected poorer students (stock image)
Current education minister Jason Clare (pictured) said the government will pledge $66.9 million to build university centers in rural and suburban areas to give potential students a ‘crack at university’
‘Too often someone’s postcode is a brick wall preventing Australians from going to university.
“I want more young people from the suburbs and the regions to have a chance to go to university, and this will help.”
The hubs will also help ease the pressure on universities as both international and domestic students are estimated to double by 2050.
They will also help educate a generation of students who will need a degree in order to apply.
“More and more jobs require a college degree,” says Clare.
‘That means we need more people with a university degree in the coming years.’
‘These can’t just be people who live within 10 km of the CBD. It also means that more Australians from the suburbs and regions will have that opportunity.’