It is telling that many of the critics of the campaign to reverse the fee hikes imposed by the Morrison government on arts, humanities, accounting and law degrees as part of its 2021 Job Ready Graduates legislation go straight to simplistic tropes about entitled "zoomers" demanding a free ride through the university sector.
These ad hominem attacks, often made by Baby Boomers who were the beneficiaries of the short-lived foray into free university initiated by the Whitlam government, are as counter-factual as they are insulting.
Non-STEM students such as Leila Clarke, who featured in a recent ACM report on the fallout from the Morrison era changes, aren't demanding a free lunch. What they do want is an evidence-based fee structure which takes into account the actual cost of providing tuition rather than basing the going rate on whether or not the government of the day thinks what you are studying will make a contribution to society.
Ms Clarke, who is studying law and international relations, expects to graduate from her double degree with a HECs debt totalling $80,000 (or likely more once indexation is taken into account).
After completing high school in Lismore the now a third-year university student largely self-funded her relocation to Canberra and is justly proud of the fact she has been able to support herself while studying full time.
Ms Clarke's concern, despite consciously not allowing the cost to influence her choice of studies, is that when she graduates she will be carrying a debt burden not far short of $100,000.
This is far greater than the debt she would have accrued by choosing a subject off the then Morrison government's "preferred list" such as nursing, education or mathematics.
Ms Clarke's course of study falls into the top fee band of $17,399 a year. The fee for nursing, education or mathematics is just $4738 per year. To study medicine, veterinary science, or dentistry - arguably among the most lucrative of degrees - costs $13,558 a year.
The decision to upend the existing fee structure had nothing to do with the real cost of the instruction provided. The argument was that by penalising people for studying subjects deemed less practical the government could herd students into fields not as closely aligned with their interests, inclinations and abilities.
Five years on and it is clear this initiative has failed. In its submission to a Senate inquiry the Group of Eight (leading research universities) said the Job Ready Graduates policy had achieved "little meaningful change in student behaviour."
ANU Students Association president Charley Ellwood said the policy was a "failure" that had not materially impacted student choice of degrees and had made university inaccessible for students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds.
The inquiry is considering a bill introduced to the Senate by Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi last year that would, if adopted, slash the cost of a humanities degree from $17,399 a year to a much more affordable $8164.
So why, despite having opposed the fee changes in 2021 and having been in office since May 2022, hasn't the Albanese government addressed this issue? Education Minister Jason Clare is on the record as saying: "I've been clear that the former government's Job Ready Graduates scheme has failed."
The Minister could short circuit the current convoluted process in a heartbeat by using the government's massive lower house majority to legislate the necessary changes. That such a bill would be waved through the upper house with the fulsome blessing of the Greens goes without saying.
What is the government waiting for? This is low hanging fruit.
