HECS Architect Decries Green's Preoccupation with Abolition of University Fees. (December 29, 2010)

 Bruce Chapman is Professor of Economics in the Crawford School of Economics and Government, the Australian National University. He also developed  the Higher Education Contributions Scheme (HECS) which the Hawke Labor Government set up in 1989.

The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEER) has tabulated the current contributions toward university fees, shown in the following two tables, but click here for details of charges as they pertain to individual cases.

Shows the Commonwealth contribution amounts for one equivalent full-time student load [EFTSL]

in 2010 (these amounts are indexed each year).

Gives the ranges within which providers may set student contributions for units of study in 2010

According to The Australian's Joe Kelly, Greens leader Bob Brown has pushed... for free tertiary education and  "advocated his preference last week for a return to the original 40 per cent [mining] tax rate that was campaigned against by the industry, warning that 'parliament will decide' whether the tax stands in its current form".

However, in Professor Chatman's view using the proceeds of the mining tax to abolish university fees: "changes nothing. It does not change the fact that it would be inequitable to have so-called free tertiary education. I think it would be a very poor and unfair use of resources. It is a very regressive use of taxpayers' money to have graduates contribute nothing -- this means less public expenditure or higher taxes in other areas."

Mr Kelly then gives us Dr Brown: "Unrestricted access to education is essential and is in line with the government's own advice that future jobs require higher skills."

And opposition education spokesman, Christopher Pyne said the Greens' proposal was: "middle-class welfare gone mad... There was no change in the demographic make-up of universities after the introduction of free education by the Whitlam government. Free education simply meant upper middle-class Australians got a free education at the expense of the working classes."

While Professor Chapman told Mr Kelly that  other countries, including South Africa, New Zealand, England, Hungary and others, had adopted HECS-type schemes because they were fairer than having all taxpayers pay for tertiary education.

However, what has not been sensibly discussed by any of the protagonists is the straight forward approach of determining the fee to be assessed on the basis that no prospective student who has qualified for admittance to the university will be denied access on the basis of need. In short, he/she will be charged that determined to be affordable.

Princeton does it, Stanford does it, Harvard does it, a very significant number of the US top universities and colleges follow that path, but apparently Australia's governments are unable to command our bureaucracy to attempt it.

It's time for a change.