Students paid up to $368 million extra in 2024 than they would have under fee structures that applied before the Job Ready Graduates Scheme was introduced (adjusted for inflation), according to new modelling from the Innovative Research Universities lobby.
Putting a figure on the hated JRG scheme, which took effect in 2021, the IRU said universities had also received $813 million less to teach and support students, due to reductions in funding under the policy.
In a paper which does the challenging work of identifying what JRG has cost students and universities, the IRU says the cost to the Commonwealth of abolishing JRG would be $1.917 billion; a 25% hike in its annual outlay for undergraduate student places, according to new research from
IRU argues the commensurate savings for the most expensive courses are necessary because, “we need students from all backgrounds free to pursue their passions and enter the workforce in the widest range of fields.”
Three-year degrees in business, humanities and law now cost students $50,000 plus, or $17,400 annually. JRG was created by the previous Coalition government to reduce demand in these disciplines and encourage enrolments in its preferred fields. The annual cost of nursing and teaching degrees is now $4,700.
IRU argues the funding model is having a disproportionate impact on low SES students in HASS, bized and law, with their enrolments down nearly 20% 2020-2024, compared to 8% for others.
“Pricing some students out of degrees at the point of entry undermines not only their future but also Australia’s future,” chair George Willlams (Western Sydney U VC) argues.
IRU proposes a complex plan for staged disposal of JRG to spread the cost to Government without transferring the burden to students in other fee bands.
The first step reduces the cost of the most expensive study from $17,000 to $14,000 per annum. The second moves HASS courses from $14,000 to $10,000 a year.
And the third step increases public funding by $5000 for STEM student places. This may be to address academic complaints, especially in engineering, that the JRG model underestimated the cost of infrastructure-intensive teaching.
Simplifying the system and narrowing the cost gap, “would immediately benefit around 285,000 students, alleviate public concerns around the costs of higher education and support the Accord’s and Government’s vision for greater higher education participation through equity,” IRU asserts.
In an interview with Future Campus published today, the first in a series of recorded interviews called The HE Freedive, Professor Williams said that policies including JRG and restrictions on recruitment had led to a two-track higher education system in Australia, where institutions catering for high socio-economic students were tending to become wealthier, while those who catered for poorer students were struggling to survive.
“I don't think we've got the right approach. Something has to give – and I think actually the accord has a good blueprint for how to take it forward. But if you look at the metrics, we We're not on track to meet the 2050 targets. In fact, in key areas, we're going backwards,” Professor Williams said.
Describing JRG as one of the top five worst policies introduced in Australia this century.
“If you look at the last five years, the number of low SES students doing law has decreased by 17. 7 %. So it's gone down nearly one in five. At the same time, students from other cohorts has gone up,” Professor Williams said.
“We should have a system based upon opportunity. We should be a country where everyone, if they work hard, has a chance to go to uni, to get a great life, a good job. And that shouldn't be based upon privilege. And it certainly shouldn't be based upon the money your mom and dad have got. But that's the system.
“If we really believe we want to be a country of the fair go, egalitarian, then we need a system that's not two track.”
The lobby’s proposal is well-timed for consideration by the Senate committee inquiry into a Greens bill to abolish JRG, due to report end June.