As the next federal election looms, Australian university students are expressing frustration with the Labor government’s approach to tackling soaring student debt levels. While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised to slash existing student debts by 20% if re-elected, many argue this one-off measure fails to address the underlying issues that have led to skyrocketing degree costs in recent years.
At the heart of the discontent lies the controversial Jobs Ready Graduates (JRG) scheme, introduced by the previous Coalition government in 2020. The policy significantly increased the cost of certain degrees, particularly in the humanities, in a bid to incentivize students to pursue fields like teaching, nursing, and STEM. However, critics argue the changes have only served to saddle students with greater debt burdens without delivering the promised labor market outcomes.
Students Demand Comprehensive Reform
For Ngaire Bogemann, president of the National Union of Students (NUS), Labor’s proposed debt relief is a mere “band-aid solution” that ignores the pressing need for structural change. Bogemann, who is currently completing a $50,000 arts degree at the University of Melbourne, says the inequitable pricing of degrees under JRG is causing widespread anxiety and hardship among students.
JRG has been an egregious, massive failure. It didn’t change what I wanted to study, but I see black and white how it’s impacting me. There’s a lot of anxiety among young people, and a lack of student voices driving these changes.
– Ngaire Bogemann, NUS President
Similar sentiments are echoed by Zeina Khochaiche, a fourth-year arts student at the University of Sydney. With her degree costs exceeding $50,000 and honors year set to add nearly $17,000 more, Khochaiche views Labor’s debt relief plan as too little, too late.
The 20% cut to debt is helpful in theory – but feels like a last ditch effort to appeal to university students, and comes with the caveat Labor has to win the election. Newly enrolled students aren’t assisted, and arts degrees are still $8,000 a semester. It’s not enough.
– Zeina Khochaiche, University of Sydney student
Calls to Abolish Jobs Ready Graduates Scheme
Peak bodies and academics are urging the government to go further and abolish JRG entirely, citing its failure to deliver positive outcomes for students or the higher education sector as a whole. Professor Michelle Arrow, president of the Australian Historical Association, argues the scheme has only served to entrench inequality and undermine the value of certain disciplines.
Over the past 20 years, the average debt for a graduate in their 20s has doubled … [and] the largest share of that collective debt burden falls most heavily on those who are poorly placed to pay it off. Until the JRG package has been abolished … the Hecs Help system will remain manifestly unfair.
– Professor Michelle Arrow, Australian Historical Association President
The Greens have seized upon growing discontent, with deputy leader and higher education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi promising to push Labor to legislate its 20% debt relief pledge immediately rather than waiting until after the election. Faruqi has also called for JRG to be scrapped, arguing it actively discourages students from pursuing their passions and talents.
Government Hints at Further Reforms
Education Minister Jason Clare has signaled that further changes to degree pricing could be on the horizon, with the government preparing to hand down its official response to the Australian Universities Accord – an independent review of the sector. The Accord’s final report, delivered in December, recommended JRG be abolished “as soon as possible” and replaced with a new funding model that ties student contributions to the expected future earnings of each field of study.
However, rather than implementing the proposed changes directly, Labor has tasked the yet-to-be-established Australian Tertiary Education Commission with overhauling JRG, prompting concerns of further delays and inaction. For student leaders like Bogemann, time is of the essence.
Students couldn’t wait for a yet-to-be-established ATEC to potentially deal with the high cost of arts and humanities courses.
– Professor George Williams, Western Sydney University Vice-Chancellor
As the election campaign kicks into high gear, student activists have vowed to maintain pressure on both major parties to commit to genuine higher education reform. With trust in the tertiary system eroding and a new generation of students facing unprecedented financial strain, the stakes could not be higher.
Only time will tell whether Australia’s leaders will rise to the challenge and deliver a more equitable, accessible and sustainable model for higher education – or whether band-aid solutions and empty promises will continue to leave students drowning in decades of debt.
