Universities Australia | 13 May 2014
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The key elements of higher education spending in the 2014-15 Budget, according to Universities Australia.
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- Extending the demand driven system to sub-bachelor places and non-university higher education providers thereby admitting approximately 80,000 additional students into the system (at a cost of $820 million);
- Full deregulation of student fees from 1 January 2016
- Commonwealth’s contribution towards course fees will be reduced by 20 per cent on average (at a saving of $1.9 billion);
- All higher education programs will be indexed at a lower rate based on CPI (at a saving of $203 million);
- A scholarship scheme to be funded by higher education providers directing 20 per cent of additional revenue raised by higher fees;
- Ongoing funding for the Future Fellowships Scheme (at a cost of $140 million);
- An additional year’s funding for the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (at a cost of $150 million);
- Changes to the Higher Education Loans Program that would see the removal of the 25 per cent loan fee for undergraduate FEE-HELP, a slight drop in the HELP repayment income threshold to $50,638, and the introduction of an interest rate equivalent to the 10 year government bond rate;
- The abolition of the Education Investment Fund with assets ($3.5 billion) to be rolled into the new Asset Recycling Fund;
- Government funding for Research Training Scheme Doctoral Students to be reduced by 10 per cent (at a saving of $174 million); and
- Efficiency dividend applied to Australian Research Council