Universities count the cost of preparatory courses and prac payments
As the government pours millions into helping disadvantaged students get degrees, some universities are demanding even more money for students who fail to meet academic entry standards.
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Taxpayers will hand universities $18,278 to provide remedial teaching for every disadvantaged student struggling to enter university, at a cost of $350m over the next four years.
But some universities are demanding even more money to provide “Fee Free Uni Ready’’ bridging courses to up to 30,000 students who fail to meet the usual academic entry standards.
The Regional Universities Network wants a “regional loading’’ to cover the “higher costs … and the higher support needs that regional students tend to require for success’’.
“RUN strongly argues for regional loading to be applied to courses,’’ it states in a submission to a Senate inquiry into the government’s student support legislation, which reveals the cost to be $18,278 per student.
The funding will boost taxpayer spending on university preparatory courses by 43 per cent, in line with federal Education Minister Jason Clare’s mission to get more students from disadvantaged backgrounds enrolled at university.
Charles Darwin University, which already targets Aboriginal enrolments with free preparatory pathways to tertiary study, has warned of “challenges’’ with the new system.
It told the Senate inquiry that once students finished a bridging course they required ongoing “academic advising, mentoring and access to resources’’.
“Without adequate support, there is a risk that students may struggle to transition from preparatory courses to their chosen degrees, leading to lower retention and completion rates,’’ its submission states.
Universities are also objecting to administering the government’s “prac payment” of $320 per week for university students required to undertake unpaid practicum work in teaching, nursing and social work from July next year.
In another stumbling block for the Albanese government’s university reform agenda, many universities are calling for the prac payment to be extended to all courses requiring on-the-job training, including medicine, engineering, veterinary science and allied health studies. Universities Australia chief executive Luke Sheehy said students should not have to pay tax on the means-tested prac payments, which should be administered by a government agency such as Services Australia.
“This is another example of the government asking universities to provide a service delivery function for government,’’ he told the inquiry. “This is a contributor to universities having significant levels of professional, rather than academic, staff. Universities are not experts in administering means tests and would prefer not to have this function.’’
The Group of Eight research universities said that the prac payments “will likely require an eligibility assessment and will introduce an additional administrative and regulatory burden on an already strained sector’’.
The National Union of Students said the prac payment of $8 an hour should be increased to the minimum wage of $24 per hour.
“This is a slap in the face to the many students on placement who are currently providing unpaid labour in crucial industries, and will do little to meaningfully lift students out of placement poverty,’’ NUS national president Ngaire Bogemann said. “To ensure that all students who undertake mandatory placements as part of their degree are able to make ends meet and keep a roof over their head while on placement, legally unpaid student placements must be abolished and the rate of the Commonwealth Prac Payment must be increased to at least the minimum wage as well as expanded to include all students who have to undertake mandatory placements or internships.’’
University of Tasmania vice-chancellor Professor Rufus Black said students should be able to “self-identify’’ as eligible for prac payments, which should be paid upfront in a lump sum instead of weekly.
Charles Darwin University called for the prac payment to be extended to occupational therapy students, who are required to complete 1000 hours of unpaid placements, and medical laboratory science students, who must undertake 560 hours.
Western Sydney University called on the Albanese government to lower the cost of arts degrees, which the former Coalition government made more expensive in a ploy to push more students into cheaper degrees in mathematics, healthcare and teaching.
“(The university) urges the government to urgently act to fix a broken system, which has now pushed the cost of a three-year Arts degree above $50,000,’’ it states.
“The debt incurred for gateway and foundation-style degrees works against the government’s stated aim of encouraging more equity and diverse students into university, to reach its target of 80 per cent of the working age population with tertiary qualifications by 2050.’’
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