She needs to wake up. There are no free rides in life.

Its outrageous isn't it. This talk of people being responsible for their own debts. Why can't the government take some ownership?!?



We do need to remember though (before people start the generation bashing), there are people in all age groups who think they should be getting more than they currently are. Whether its the pensioners with the 10 million PPOR (haha, lets start this one again!) who don't feel they get enough from the pension to live on to the guy on welfare who's payments only just cover his drug habit (thats a joke - I know the majority of people on welfare are normal) and can't afford to buy a VN commodore.

 

A friend of mine's sister is a professional student. She just goes from one uni degree to the next.
Also a mother of a friend retired and decided to go to uni. She's ipon to her second degree. She knows she won't have to pay HECS as she will never work.

 

If uni fees are abolished, then I want to be refunded for my uni fees payments I made ... Which will allow me to buy in dover heights, point piper etc.. awesome!

 

You must have done a lot of uni!

Privatise them would be my vote.

 

Sorry to gatecrash this Liberals meeting, but I have to say that I fully and wholeheartedly believe in taxpayer funded education. Primary, secondary and tertiary.
Everyone that has the smarts to make it to university should be given the opportunity to go. I believe that there would be a lag of a few years, but it would pay for itself.
Look at the Norway, Finland, Sweden or Germany, all of them have free tertiary education and all have good economies (for Europe).

Further, much, much more money should be invested in R&D. NASA for example returned somewhere in the order of $7 to $14 spent on the program to the American economy and that disregards things like the sense of awe that they have given us.

And one of my favourite quotes to finish my post:
“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”

 

I agree! It concerns me when the cost of a degree is prohibitive to someone completing it. Education would be at risk of being something only for the wealthier. Yes, I know HELP/HECS comes into play but there is talk of converting this to similar to the US with 6% interest rates and cost of degrees will skyrocket. Scary. Under this proposed model kids would come out of uni with debts between 60-120K at 6% interest rates to pay off.

 

It's not just a Labor viewpoint that education should be funded by the public.

I agree that the public should fund it too; and I vote Liberal.

But, where the Libs differ from the socialists and rose-coloured glasses mob is this;

Libs say; "How are you gunna fund it?!!"

As much as that interviewer was a rude ******* to that girl, he was right; How ya gunna fund it?

 

If these "kids" were to apply for the same loan for property, they would have nothing to back it up and the loan will be declined.

what is a university degree worth? If that person then defaults (and these are all high risk loans that will have a high default rate) then what can banks do, foreclose on their arts degree?

This could become another subprime crisis and then this student's wish will come true - taxpayers will end up paying for all of it.

 

They already do pay for it... and the student pays it back once they earn over the HECS/HELP income threshold. Investing in education without a profit is something the federal govt has done for a long time, the scenario freya is talking about is the govt changing its view of education as an investment and instead making it a commercial loan with commercial interest rates associated.

There are pro's and con's for both.

 

The current HECS/HELP system makes sense. It's indexed to CPI and isn't a huge disincentive to further study at all.

Making uni a huge burden on all but the wealthiest is not a positive for society. At all. We think how backwards a caste based societal system is, but yet also want to implement a similar system but based on how much family economic support you can get.

It's the complete opposite of the egalitarian ethos of Australia. Which is a shame.

 

There might be talk but it is not a government or opposition policy. I hope it never happens. If it becomes a policy of either side, I won't support it.

I have completed 2 degrees under HECS/HELP/PELS, one undergraduate and one post-graduate. I really liked the system. I started 3 or 4 undergrad degrees before I found one I liked by I didn't get a ridiculous bill at the end. It didn't take me long after I found full time work to pay off the debt. It worked very well for me.

 

I agree with this. The current system works well. I know when I finished highschool, the idea of a HECS debt didn't put anyone off going to uni if they thought it was the right decision for them.

Although I do like the idea of Australia chasing the debt if someone gets an education then immediately leaves the country (although we'd have to be very careful how we go about this - if it was all payable on return it might discourage people from returning).

 

I think (i'm not 100% sure though) in New Zealand Higher education debts start incurring charges at normal interest rates if people go to live overseas.