Tertiary fees should be abolished

University Degree Education and Teaching

English Persuasive Speech

Tertiary fees should be abolished

Picture this: Finish Year 12 at school with good marks. Enter university to complete a degree. Four years later – 21 year old graduate ready to begin work, to finally earn some decent money for a car, a unit, a trip – STOP!!! First the HECS has to be repaid and for some young people the cost can be crippling – up to $24,000 for an under-graduate course. I put to you, my fellow students that tertiary fees for Australian students should be abolished.

Why? The first big reasons are economic ones. More Australians with a TAFE or University qualification mean more Australians with good jobs and a higher living standard for all. Though we are blessed with many natural resources which bring wealth to the nation, these resources will run out. Australia is aiming to be the ‘clever country’. We have to strengthen our economy in industry and technology and we need highly trained and educated workers to do this. These will come from our TAFE colleges and universities and they should not have to pay for their training.

Australian university fees are among the highest in the world. The Federal Government’s record in funding universities is appalling. Not only has the proportion of costs borne by students increased, but also the proportion of Government funding has decreased. Australia and New Zealand are the only countries in the world where this has happened. The quality of tertiary education is being degraded by this inadequate support. It’s bad enough that students are paying for their education, but worse still, this education is a poor one.

Speaking of poor leads me to my next argument. Surely HECS means that ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Speaking of poor leads me to my next argument. Surely HECS means that the ability to pay fees could override the capacity to learn. Are talented students being turned away from university because they can’t afford to attend? Are people with lower marks able to buy their way into university because they can afford high fees? Data from Australia, New Zealand and the UK confirms that financial issues greatly affect participation in higher education. A 2003 Victorian study of year 12 students showed less than 34% of public school students entered university compared to 67% from private schools. In poorer suburbs and rural Australia, the entry figures were even worse. Cultural reasons? – maybe. Educational reasons? – perhaps. Economic reasons? – definitely. Australia prides itself on giving people a ‘fair go’. Charging fees to attend university is not fair to all.

Some may claim that abolishing university fees would place too great a strain on the economy. Wrong. The estimated cost would be $300 million per annum, and the Government spent $500 million going to war in Iraq. How would you choose to spend the money – in the destructive process of war? or in the process of building an education for all? Research by Withers and Edwards 2001 has found clear evidence of the willingness of Australian voters to pay higher taxes for higher education outlays.

I believe that HECS operates against the national interest by excluding many local Australians from access to tertiary institutions. It is turning education into a money-making enterprise of Government rather than keeping it as a training ground for tomorrow’s leaders. It discriminates between those who have money and those who do not. It discourages many from trying to gain a higher education. It places an unhealthy financial burden on young people. For me, HECS stands for Higher Education Costs Suck. For the good of all, tertiary fees should be abolished.