Postgraduates seek better income support

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations says full access would help in ‘promoting social mobility’.

Low-income domestic postgraduate research and coursework students can’t rely on income support.

Postgraduate students are calling for more government income support to put them on a par with undergraduates, who have wider access to schemes such as ­Aus­tudy and the Youth Allowance.

In a new paper the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations says that income support for postgraduates is “highly limited” and opening full access would help in “promoting social mobility for low-income Australians”.

It says the problem at the ­moment is that “there is no universal entitlement to income support for low-income domestic postgraduate research and coursework students”.

CAPA says that with the increasing popularity of postgraduate courses, 26 per cent of students enrolled in public universities are now postgraduates.

“With such vast numbers, it is highly problematic that only about one-third of masters level courses and one-third of commencing HDR (higher degree by research) candidates receive direct commonwealth-funded income support,” says the paper, titled Income Support for Domestic Postgraduates in Australia.

It argues there is a particular need now to boost such support because masters degrees are increasingly becoming the norm. For example the Melbourne model at the University of Melbourne requires every bachelor degree student to complete a specialised masters as part of their normal study program.

The paper shows that while all bachelor degree students are eligible for means-tested income support, only 28 per cent of masters by coursework degrees in public universities are approved for income support.

It notes that the Bradley higher education review recommended better support for low socioeconomic students to do postgraduate study. But a plan to allow all masters students to be eligible for income support was scrapped in 2014 as part of budget repair.

CAPA also argues that, because research training program scholarships for HDR students are allocated competitively, in order to get one, students need to have a research record and have completed a masters degree.

“This results in RTP stipends being less attainable for students who, due to age or working/caring commitments, have had less opportunity to publish their research or who could not afford to undertake masters-level study in their research area,” the paper says.

It also points out that RTP stipends — currently $27,082 a year — are about half the level of the average full-time wage for people working in education and training.

RTP stipends are also for limited periods — three to four years for a PhD and two years for a masters by research degree. “HDR students often receive no income support towards the end of their degrees,” the paper says.

It argues that all research students should be made eligible for income support and that PhD students should receive RTP stipends for at least four years.