The report released today by the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee, Australian University Student Finances 2006, is further evidence of the financial pressure that university students face under the Howard Government, according to the Australian Democrats.
Using the last report in 2000 as a benchmark, this report's findings show that more students are taking out loans to fund their study, financial circumstances are impacting on study choices to a much greater degree, and the proportion of income that full-time students receive from paid employment has increased massively.
"University and other costs are increasing for students at the same time that there is an apparent tightening of access to Government support, particularly Austudy," Democrats' Higher Education spokesperson Senator Natasha Stott Despoja said.
In 2004, Senator Stott Despoja initiated the first and only Senate inquiry to focus solely on student income support issues.
The inquiry heard that anomalies in the income support system are driving students further into poverty and forcing many to give up study altogether. These anomalies include the absurdity of the Government refusing to pay Rent Assistance to students on Austudy and the differences in the treatment of Commonwealth and university scholarships.
The inquiry recommended in June 2005 that Rent Assistance be extended to Austudy recipients, subject to Government costing. The Government is yet to respond to this recommendation.
"The Government is seemingly alone in thinking that HECS hikes, more full-fee paying places, and the abolition of the Educational Textbook Subsidy Scheme have not compounded students' financial woes," Senator Stott Despoja said.
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