By Amelia Strazdins
Everything has a price and recently that price has increased exponentially. In a post Covid world, we have faced major increases in everything from interest rates to fuel to everyday items. The struggle to find and afford housing has become a common worry for many and it seems that debts are continuing to expand. One debt that continues to grow and that poses a significant issue to society, is the growing cost of education. When you think of the first major debt someone may incur within their lifetime, many may consider that cost to be in relation to a first car or maybe the purchase of their first property.
However, in 2023 one of the biggest financial costs posed to many of all age brackets but specifically those within the younger bracket, is their HECS debt. This growing cost of education has been seen across Australian, emphasised most recently with a reported 7.1% interest increase in all HECS debts. The old saying ‘you cannot put a price on education’ evidently does not ring true in these circumstances. Increased interest rates in relation to these educational debts is not the only struggle students have faced within recent years in regard to their tertiary education. A government decision executed in 2020 saw humanities and arts-based degrees almost doubled in their cost, with other degrees in areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), nursing and teaching reduced. For students in, or about to enter, a humanities-based degree this increase was an unexpected and unwelcome surprise. Years later, after the increase of these degrees and the increase of all HECS debts, we are left in a position wondering what impact these increased costs have had both on the students and the ideals surrounding education in Australia as a whole.
To put it simply, the increasing cost of education is presenting challenging barriers to students in a variety of different forms. The stress placed on tertiary students cannot just be attributed to the stresses of course load. Firstly, the raised cost of living coupled with fulltime university study and part time jobs leaves students juggling studying, working and living on top of their student debts and in some circumstances, on top of unpaid placement work. For any student who is not an Australian citizen attending Australian universities, HECS is not available to them and thus they are required to manage their university fees throughout the duration of their degrees. Secondly, increasing the cost of gaining a university education, presents itself as a deterrent. Financial barriers and the rise of course costs can lead to further difficulties for those in vulnerable positions attempting to access these pathways. Even for those able to access these pathways, there’s still a legitimate fear that despite holding a degree, these students will not be able to find a job in their chosen field or begin to pay off the debts in their name. Finally, in raising the cost of education we are presented with a message of exclusion. Education should not be a privilege for those who can afford it. Education is a right, a right that must be continued to be fought for and not continually monetised. Those within our universities are helping to shape our future but cannot do so if they are drowning in debt.
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