Thanks to flawed policy, this uni degree could cost students $50k next year

By 2025 an arts degree at an Australian university will cost as much as $50,000 depending on the subjects studied.

The changes were made under a policy aimed at using price incentives to drive students to study courses the previous government claimed were where the jobs were, or where it thought they ought to be.

The changes were introduced as part of the Job-Ready Graduate package reforms, known in the sector as JRG. The funding universities receive have two elements, one comes directly from the student and the other from the federal government.

In areas where the government wanted students to study it hugely reduced the student contribution component while slightly increasing the government funding, producing in some cases a net reduction in the total amount the university receives.

While in areas that the government felt were not "job-ready" the student contribution would more than double while the government element dropped very significantly.

So in areas like humanities, arts and social sciences, the university would receive a net increase in funding but that was coming almost entirely from the student.

The policy is based on the false assumption that graduates with an arts degree are somehow not "job-ready". However, the government's own data shows us that this is not the case.

Recent reporting has used short-term data to suggest the employment outcomes for humanities, arts and social sciences graduates are worse than average.

If we look at longer-term data, that looks at outcomes three years on from graduation, we see that in fact 90 per cent of humanities, culture and social sciences graduates are in full-time jobs compared to an overall average across the university sector of 92 per cent.

Earnings for humanities, culture and social sciences graduates remain steady at $81,700 three years after graduating. This is on par with the national average of $83,500.

Eleven per cent of communications and creative arts graduates go into management roles compared with the national average of 8 per cent.

And employers have a 91 per cent rate of satisfaction with humanities, arts and social sciences graduates' foundational skills including general literacy, numeracy and communication skills as well as the ability to investigate and integrate knowledge.

Not only this but our graduates are highly adaptable. This is confirmed by government data that shows humanities, arts and social sciences graduates are found in more than 300 occupations.

Beyond these outstanding graduate outcomes to the broader economic impact of the arts in Australia we see that billions of dollars are generated by arts-related industries and many thousands of jobs.

In 2019-20, cultural and creative arts activity in total contributed $122.3 billion to the Australian economy or 6.2 per cent of GDP.

Examples of recently-funded research projects in the arts, social sciences and humanities help prevent cyber abuse, improve services for Indigenous people, help communities impacted by climate hazards, promote regional industry and increase the sustainability of our ecosystems.

The evidence is clear that humanities, arts and social sciences graduates are in fact 'job-ready', are valued by their employers and make immense contributions to society.

The federal government has postponed addressing JRG until the implementation of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission in 2026.

In the meantime, students with excellent prospects who make a significant contribution to Australia's society and economy will be saddled with huge debts due to a misguided policy used to force students into areas of government preference.

The amount students pay should be linked to the cost of university teaching in their fields. It should not be linked to prospective earnings, which outside of a few narrow fields, are highly variable over a long period of time.

It is imperative that this flawed, inequitable and ineffective policy is wound back urgently.