Another face-saving measure for NUS?

By Michael Tardif Having failed to campaign effectively against the inclusion of changes to the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) and Austudy in the May federal budget, the National Union of Students (NUS) has, for the last two weeks, been attempting to save face by dressing up delays in the passing of the budget legislation as a victory for students. The federal government's two bills, the Higher Education Funding Act and the Student and Youth Assistance Amendment Bill, seek to deny permanent resident students access to Austudy and force them to pay HECS before beginning their studies. Further, these students would not receive the 25% discount available to students with citizenship who choose not to defer their HECS payments and pay up-front. The legislation also seeks to increase the rate at which previous students are forced to pay back any deferred HECS debts. The WA Greens and the Australian Democrats have been attempting to freeze any increases in HECS repayments for a set period, and to exempt from up-front payments those permanent resident students who are awaiting citizenship ceremonies, under 18-years-old, experiencing extreme hardship and whose home country does not allow duel citizenship. NUS has supported these proposals saying that they "adequately deal with the equity concerns which students have raised since the budget". In mid-November, NUS released a media statement titled, "NUS won't compromise on access" in which National Education Officer Melanie Wheeler said, "NUS will not accept any measure which compromises access to the system through the extension of fees". However, because this was not accompanied by a consistent campaign which mobilised students to fight, the ALP's attacks on education are continuing.