‘Debt until death’: Vice chancellor attacks soaring fees as degrees hit $50,000

The new vice chancellor of Western Sydney University has warned that students are being forced to quit their studies due to soaring costs as he urged the government to step in after the cost of an arts degree hit $50,000 for the first time.

Professor George Williams, who started his role this week, said young people were being priced out of their dreams and fearful of being left with a HECS debt for the rest of their lives.

Western Sydney University vice chancellor George Williams.Credit: Louie Douvis

“Something that really burns at me is the fact we’re about to have $50,000 degrees for arts students,” he said.

“Arts degrees are often the degree of choice for low socioeconomic status students, for indigenous people, and for women.”

Williams, a constitutional law expert who takes up the role after more than 20 years at UNSW, said the high cost of an arts degree was not in line with students’ potential earnings labelling the funding system “broken”.

“They are rightly fearful of having a debt until death because they are unable to ever properly repay it,” Williams said.

‘[Students] are rightly fearful of having a debt until death because they are unable to ever properly repay it.’

George Williams, Western Sydney University

Data released by the federal Education Department this month revealed the cost of a three-year arts degree will reach $50,000 for students beginning their studies in 2025.

Arts, law, business and communications students are among those hit with the highest yearly contributions at $16,992 per year.

The Morrison government’s job-ready graduate scheme in 2021 overhauled the funding of university degrees which was intended to deter students from courses such as arts degrees and into ones deemed areas of demand.

As a result, most arts degrees went up in cost by 117 per cent while degrees such as teaching, nursing and engineering dropped in price.

Government contributions were previously linked to a student’s earning capacity in a chosen degree.

Williams said Western Sydney University was dealing with an increased number of students dropping out of their studies, with high costs a key driver.

“[The job-ready scheme] was the failed experiment of the previous government to distort student preferences,” he said.

“It hasn’t worked. What has instead happened is students either study and take on these unsustainable debts or they just don’t study, they just drop their dream of studying.

“The government has been great in recognising this problem - they did so in opposition, the Accord review is very clear about the entrenched problems.

“I think the message is simple in that we need to get on and fix it. It’s an urgent priority because of the impact it’s having on students.”

The long-awaited government-commissioned University Accord review this year recommended scrapping the job-ready scheme, finding only 1.5 per cent of students changed their course preferences as a result of it.

The review also found it left students with high debts which were not reflected in their future salary potential, saying fees should ultimately be based on projected lifetime earnings.

Education Minister Jason Clare has stated that the Coalition’s scheme had failed to funnel students out of humanities and into areas of skills shortages but has not committed to repealing it.

Clare said the Accord was a blueprint for the next decade and beyond, and said the Australian Tertiary Education Commission would drive long-term reform including the setting of university fees.

“Funding [the Accord] and implementing it is going to take more than just one budget. We have to do this in stages. But we have bitten off a big chunk -29 of the 47 recommendations, in full or in part,” he said.

Check out Campus, our higher education hub, featuring an interactive course search tool