By Jorge Jorquera
Last week's budget continued and intensified the Labor government's "reforms" to education. As foreshadowed by numerous leaks, chief among the new measures is the introduction of an Austudy loans scheme.
Students will now have the "option" to trade in half of their Austudy allowance for a loan of up to $4000 a year. Like the tertiary tax (HECS), the loan will be repayable through the taxation system.
Students with higher incomes and who can afford to repay the loan within a five-year period will get a discount of 15%. The budget also raised the discount for up-front payment of the tertiary tax from 15% to 25%.
The government intends to pay for its new reforms by "trimming" the number of students on Austudy. While the annual minimum Austudy rate will be increased to $1000, around 38,000 students currently on Austudy (30,000 secondary and 8000 tertiary) will be cut off.
Austudy eligibility will be further restricted: from 1994, income tests will include the value of fringe benefits in assessing parental, spouse and personal income.
In order to sustain their studies, students with lower incomes will be forced to acquire debts ranging over $20,000, including a loan and the HECS.
Since 1986, underfunding and overcrowding of post-secondary institutions have increased, and the number of students from lower income and disadvantaged backgrounds has decreased, especially the number of women. For example, the South Australian Office of Tertiary Education recorded through 1991 that almost three times as many people in the eastern suburbs of metropolitan Adelaide went to university compared to the recession-hit northern suburbs.
Labor's education restructuring has increasingly extended the "user pays" principle. All that remains is the outright introduction of full tertiary fees for all students (overseas students and many postgraduate students are already paying these). After Labor has paved the way, whoever wins the next federal election will find it very easy to finish the job.
What this budget points to more than anything is the need to develop an alternative to Labor and its economic rationalism. If students are to have a chance of defending what education rights we have left, let alone winning back free education, it will mean linking up with the other social sectors under Labor's attacks. If the student movement can threaten to inspire a general anti-austerity fight back, there is a chance of salvaging our education system.