‘Obscene’ Tuition Fees Driving Education Inflation Rate: Former Pro Vice Chancellor

University of Western Australia (Adwo/Adobe Stock)

The rising cost of tuition fees is one of the primary causes of the soaring education inflation rate, according to two former emeritus professors.

The comments come after the latest consumer price index from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveals education is the largest single contributor to inflationary growth in the March quarter of 2022, with a 4.5 percent change in the average of eight capital cities.

The figures also show that Darwin has the highest inflation rate in the education sector with a 6.6 percent change, followed by Canberra (5.5 percent change) and Melbourne (5.4 percent change).

Emeritus Professor Steven Schwartz, former vice-chancellor of Macquarie University in Sydney, told The Epoch Times one of the main factors behind the education inflation was because “popular university courses” such as commerce, law and the arts have seen large fee increases.

This opinion is echoed by Gabriel Moens, former pro vice-chancellor of Murdoch University in Perth, who called the cost of some humanities degrees (around $50,000) “obscene, especially if the education offered does not result in profession-ready professionals.”

“Because education at university becomes a luxury, students also have to work and thus are spending less time on their studies. That too is unhealthy because they cannot concentrate on becoming educated men and women, and they miss out on the real university life that their parents may have enjoyed,” he said.

Moens further noted that students will have a hard time paying their HECS (Higher Education Contribution Scheme)—Australia’s government loan for university students—and “it would make sense” to pay the loan upfront because the unpaid part is subject to the consumer price index.

“Of course, a lot has to do with the relaxed and obnoxious admission policies of universities.”

In 2021, a Bachelor of Arts degree cost $14,630 in the first year for domestic students at the University of Sydney, $33,824 per year at Melbourne University, and $11,810 at the University of Queensland. 

The government’s “Job-ready Graduates Package” has also contributed to rising inflation by almost doubling the cost of humanities and social science degrees, Gabriels added.

The package included changes to fee structures for university courses, such as lowering the cost of science courses, in order to encourage students into fields with more jobs available.

The fact that humanity degrees cost is “much lower” than medicine and vet science “reflects the priorities of the government,” Moens said. However, he argued the government’s decisions are “correct.”

“We need more doctors, especially in these trying times, and during the last decade, universities have graduated too many functionally illiterate humanities students.”

“Some of these students were admitted to education courses with an ATAR score of around 50. These graduates now teach our kids, thereby perpetuating and accelerating the decline of high school education.”

With the election looming, Labor has proposed a $1.2 billion investment in education which will create 20,000 additional places at universities and provide free TAFE (Technical and Further Education) courses.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said his Fee Free TAFE plan aims to tackle critical skill shortages in areas such as childcare, aged care, trades and construction, digital and cyber security, resources, and advanced manufacturing.

“Labor will end privatisation by stealth, ensuring at least 70 percent of Commonwealth vocational education funding is for public TAFE,” he said.

“Fee Free TAFE will provide opportunities for school leavers, workers wanting to retrain or upskill, and unpaid carers—who are predominantly women—to get back into the workforce.”

Meanwhile, the Coalition said it has spent $13 billion throughout the pandemic and delivered 220,000 trade apprenticeships, the highest on record.