University students to protest Turnbull Government’s higher fees

ANGRY university students will take to the streets to fight the Turnbull Government’s move to raise fees and force graduates to start paying back their loans sooner.

University students will take to the streets to fight the Turnbull Government’s move to raise fees and force graduates to start paying back their loans sooner. Generic picture

• Uni students pay more under reform plans

ANGRY university students will take to the streets to fight the Turnbull Government’s move to raise fees and force graduates to start paying back their loans sooner.

University leaders have also hit out at a 5 per cent funding cut but are relieved the ­government scrapped plans to slash their budgets by 20 per cent.

Students will protest across the country on May 17, including at the State Library of Victoria, after Education Minister Simon Birmingham announced fees would go up 7.5 per cent over four years.

University graduates will also have to start paying back their loans once they are earning more than $42,000, down from the current threshold of $55,000, in a bid to claw back more than $52 billion in student debt.

National Union of Students education officer Anneke Demanuele said students had fought off attempts by the Abbott government to deregulate fees, and were planning a ­“national day of action”.

Opposition education spokes­woman Tanya Plibersek said Labor “won’t support anything that makes students cop bigger debts and cuts funding for universities” .