A new case pushing for an end to the high cost of humanities courses has been put forward by the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) lobby group.
After setting out how a government could cancel price discrimination in 2022, the IRU is doing it again, with a new paper on what an end to the $50,000 arts degree would cost and why other students should pay the same while arts pay less.
In the paper, the IRU proposes:
- A cut in course costs for students in HASS, law and business by abolishing the present top band ($16,000 HECS a year) and reducing what they pay to the now second level ($13,000/yr). However, the IRU also mentions that leaving law and business paying top whack would reduce the cost to government by $445m overall. Plus, increasing payments by students in JRG national priority fields from the lowest of the present four bands to the one above “would more than offset the cost to government of helping HASS.”
- An increase government funding for STEM courses, to help offset the reduction in the government contribution under the Job Ready Graduates (JRG) pricing formula.
The IRU proposes phasing in funding changes, presumably to mollify the mood of the Treasurer. Changing payments in one go would add 25% to the present $6.59bn the government now kicks in to Commonwealth Supported Places.
The lobby presents its arguments as enacting the Accord, however the case includes special pleading for the HASS community.
The IRU argues the Accord calls for student contributions “aligned” with lifelong earnings. “There is no credible evidence to suggest humanities and related fields should be in the top-charging band.”
And it says JRG is socially regressive, “disproportionately increasing the costs of education for Low SES, female and Indigenous students, due to the course choices they make,” presumably referring to the preferences for humanities courses amongst each group.
Plus, there is a message that will appeal to the HASS establishment: “a $50,000 debt for a three-year Arts degree is negatively impacting the public perception of the cost and value of university degrees, particularly for the debt-averse and disadvantaged cohorts required to meet the Accord targets.”
As to paying for it, IRU states that this update on previous work has no student worse off, with the costs borne by the Feds.
