Rising cost a rural disincentive

THE divide between city and country students is widening as fewer rural students enrol in university because of the soaring costs of tertiary education.

THE divide between city and country students is widening as fewer rural students enrol in university because of the soaring costs of tertiary education.

New statistics show that only 33 per cent of Victorian students who graduated from country high schools last year enrolled at university, compared with 52 per cent of city school-leavers.

The research, which tracked 43,000 students who completed the Victorian Certificate of Education in 2006, discovered twice as many rural and regional students opt for deferment compared with their city counterparts.

Rural high school graduates who decided not to study said the expense involved was one of the biggest disincentives: 45per cent said the cost of study was the barrier, while 47 per cent said they would find it difficult to support themselves while at university. Almost 37 per cent said they would wait until they qualified for the Youth Allowance before deciding whether they could undertake further study.

On Track co-ordinator Richard Teese, from the University of Melbourne's Centre for Post-compulsory Education, said rural students' rates of enrolment were dropping. "There is a growing divide," he said. "Partly that is to do with economic circumstances, as there are more low-income families in the country and there is certainly more pressure in the country to get a job when they leave school."

He said this posed a problem because a lot of rural school-leavers were going into part time, low-skilled jobs just to get work.

He said the cost of education was another disincentive. "A lot of students defer because they can't afford it and it puts too much pressure on their families."

Professor Teese also pointed out that the range of courses available at universities in regional areas was fairly limited. "A lot of students have to move to do the courses that they want to do and they just can't afford it."

Victorian Education Services Minister Jacinta Allan said the federal Government should increase financial assistance for students living away from home as well as increase funding for regional universities.

"When the workplace of the future needs to be highly skilled and we are crying out for skilled labour, it doesn't make sense not to provide further support so students can go on to further study," she said.

"It is a matter of grave concern that the Howard Government has created a system that keeps rural ... students out of tertiary studies because they can't afford it."