Students defy PM’s push to get them away from humanities degrees

Increased HECS debts of up to $58,000 not deterring uni applicants from law, humanities and commerce degrees.

Future uni student Virginia Plas says: ‘I don’t see why the government should push me to do something I don’t want to do.’ Picture: Colin Murty

Thousands of university applicants are defying Scott Morrison’s push to steer them away from law, humanities and commerce ­degrees despite facing increased HECS debts of up to $58,000 for their courses.

Experts now say the Prime Minister’s recently legislated shake-up of university fees — cutting the fees for post-pandemic job-creating subjects and pushing up costs for the humanities and commerce — may not alter the decisions of Year 11 and 12 students who have locked in their preferences.

Early first-preference data for the 2021 university year shows 15,465 students in NSW and the ACT, 6042 students in Queensland and 10,774 in ­Victoria has ­applied for society and culture ­degrees, including law and the ­humanities. This represents an ­increase of more than 2000 compared to this time last year in NSW, the ACT and Queensland. However, there was a decrease of 49 applications for society and culture degrees in Victoria.

ANU economics professor Bruce Chapman, the architect of the HECS scheme, told The Australian the increases in humanities preferences showed students were not swayed by higher fees.

“I’m not at all surprised. It’s what the basic economics predicts. Students behave very consistently and there is no behavioural evidence that shifts in pricing, even radical shifts, make any difference,” he said.

“Student choices just reflect the scheme. They know the debt is protected and it won’t affect them till far away into the future, usually 12 or 15 years. Paying 5 per cent of your income in 15 years’ time is not going to deter you. If you love pussycats, you’re not going to go into engineering — you’re going to be a vet.”

 

Melbourne University deputy vice-chancellor Richard James said there was still strong demand for humanities and social sciences.

“Overall, first preferences for the University of Melbourne are up on this time last year,” he said. “We are pleased to see large numbers of students continue to preference our courses, with strong demand maintained for the ­humanities and social sciences.”

If next year’s arts students do not load up on English and ­language units or take up science and maths disciplines outside their usual degree structure they face paying $14,500 a year, an ­increase of up to 113 per cent on previous years for humanities ­students.

While applications for next year’s commerce degrees — the other cluster of courses increased to $14,500 — are down compared to 2019, more than 19,000 students are pushing ahead and giving business and economics units their first preferences.

Education Minister Dan Tehan said on Tuesday that he ­expected to see enrolment patterns shift over time and argued COVID-19 changes meant more students were going through universities rather than admissions centres.

“Early applications figures from the Tertiary Admissions Centres do not capture applications made directly to universities for the 2021 academic year as a ­result of changes in administrative arrangements due to COVID-19,” he said. “As the funding model relates to units of study, not course of ­enrolment, it is likely that changes in enrolment patterns will emerge over time in both the range of courses and subjects that students select.”

Opposition education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said the increase in humanities preferences in NSW and Queensland would lead to thousands of students carrying more debt. “The only thing it will deliver is American-size university debts for tens of thousands of young Australians, right in the middle of a ­recession. What a failure,” she said.

There have been small ­increases in the number of students doing the government’s preferred post-pandemic courses such as education, science and ­information technology.

COVID-19 has inspired many students to take up health sciences, with preferences for health disciplines increasing by nearly 3000 in NSW and the ACT and nearly 2000 in Victoria so far.

Centre for the Study of Higher Education professorial fellow Frank Larkins said Year 12 students for the next two years had likely locked in their preferences despite the fee hikes.

“Students make their choices in Year 9 and Year 10, often ­because there are prerequisites for courses. It’s not easy to pivot from arts to engineering in Year 11 and 12,” he said. “We won’t know if the new price signal works — and there’s no strong evidence that it does — for at least another few years.

“In the meanwhile, we know the total returns on humanities students for universities are going up because of the higher fees. That’s the perverse outcome of the fee hike — it means more revenue for universities.”

Year 12 Perth student Virginia Plas is headed to Canberra next year to study international relations at ANU and she said she was not happy she would have to pay $14,500 a year.

“I received an early unconditional offer from ANU before the government announced the changes for the fees … A lot of students are in that category and you’re already doing the prerequisites for what you want to do in Year 11,” she said.

“I don’t see why the government should push me to do something I don’t want to do. I have no interest in science or engineering, I have always been interested in the humanities.”