Late last year the Greens introduced the Higher Education Support Amendment (Reverse Job-Ready Graduates Fee Hikes and End 50k Arts Degrees) Bill  into the Senate. Submissions for the Senate inquiry into this bill close on Friday.

Under the bill, the student contribution for most arts students would go down from $17,399 a year to $8,164, what it would have been if Job-ready Graduates had never happened. For business and law the student contribution would go down from $17,399 to $13,624, similarly what it would have been without Job-ready Graduates. Creative arts students contributions would go down from $9,537 to $8,164.

My submission to the inquiry is here.

Constitutional problems

While I agree with the broad direction of the Reverse Job-ready Graduates bill on student contributions, it cannot fix the JRG problem. Under section 53 of the Australian Constitution, a bill appropriating money cannot originate in the Senate. Offsetting reduced student contributions with higher Commonwealth contributions, as needed to maintain university funding, would require an appropriation. Due to this legal limitation, the bill contains only lower student contributions, without any changes to Commonwealth contributions.

If the bill passed we would be left with JRG Commonwealth contributions and pre-JRG student contributions. Total funding for a full-time arts student would halve, from $18,715 to $9,480.

Ending $50,000 arts degrees by ending arts degrees is too radical a measure.

Read More »