More than a quarter of students are dropping out of Australia’s top universities – but not necessarily because they’re dissatisfied

Over a quarter of students are dropping out of 11 Australian universities – but when you compare their satisfaction ratings, there’s an intriguing twist. See what the data shows.

More than a quarter of bachelor students are dropping out of 11 of Australia’s top universities, and it’s not solely down to student satisfaction.

An exclusive News Corp analysis of the latest Australian attrition data and survey on students’ university experience found no correlation between high dropout rates and low satisfaction.

University of Melbourne had the lowest overall satisfaction, with 68.1 per cent of students rating their UniMelb experience positively compared to a national average of 77.4 per cent in 2024.

The university also had the second-lowest attrition rate nationally in 2023 – 6.57 per cent against an average of nearly 18 per cent.

On the other end of the spectrum, Torrens University, Central Queensland University, University of New England and Charles Darwin University all had provider attrition rates over 30 per cent in 2023.

The attrition rate shows how many students disappear within the first two years of a course without completion and do not return to that university.

Each of these institutions still maintained a positive student rating near the national average.

Overall, 11 of the 43 universities listed had a dropout rate of over one quarter, but this had no correlation with student satisfaction.

The anomaly was the theological University of Divinity, which enjoyed a 92 per cent positive student rating and a lower than average attrition rate of 12.41 per cent.

National Union of Students president Ashlyn Horton said rising cost of living was seeing more of her peers drop out.

National Union of Students (NUS) president Ashlyn Horton. Picture: NUS

“One of the biggest reasons is there’s no such a thing as a full-time student anymore,” Ms Horton said.

“So many students are supporting themselves and paying their bills so they need to work so often.

“More and more students choose their work over their studies, so they fall behind and eventually drop out.”

The University of Melbourne had both the lowest student satisfaction rates and the second-highest retention rates.

Ms Horton said campuses were losing their sense of vibrancy.

“Another issue is campus culture has completely died. If you don’t have to be on campus you simply won’t,” she said.

“There’s no longer incentives to be there – and with the death of campus life, students’ support networks drop off and it’s easy to fall through the cracks.”

Ms Horton said if universities wanted to reverse these trends, then they have to bring students back to the table.

Pre-Covid O-Week celebrations at the University of the Sunshine Coast's Sippy Downs campus in 2019.

“Universities need to bring their focus back on to students,” she said.

“For quite a while now it's become quite obvious universities are prioritising profit margins over student welfare and education quality.”

When releasing the data on Friday, federal Education Minister Jason Clare focused on the positives.

“More students are sticking with their degrees,” he said.

“Attrition rates for domestic undergraduates are at a 10-year low at 12 per cent in 2024, down from 15 per cent in 2023.

“This data shows we’re making progress, but there’s still a lot more work to do.”

Spokespersons for the University of New England and University of Central Queensland said they were working to address their institutions’ attrition rate through targeted support to students to improve accessibility.

Originally published as More than a quarter of students are dropping out of Australia’s top universities – but not necessarily because they’re dissatisfied