Why Uni Students Are Protesting Education Costs in NSW

They’ve had enough.

More than 200 students and staff from the University of Sydney have come together to protest the government's planned university fee hikes and recent job cuts.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic and the looming threat of fines, protesters moved through the university campus and adjacent roads at around 1:30pm yesterday.

Students and staff at the protests stated that their "education is under attack" and chanted "no cuts, no fees, no corporate universities," as they marched their university campus.

This was the moment students and staff pushed past police on to City Rd to protest course cuts and job losses at Sydney Uni today. Police tried to stop the protest and issued numerous fines to activists, but protestors refused to be silenced. This is what we need in NSW. pic.twitter.com/gxI8ehaWE4

— Democracy is Essential (@DemocracyNsw) September 23, 2020

According to NSW police, 21 protesters were issued penalty infringement notices for breaching the public health order that prevents outdoor gatherings of more than 20 people.

A student from the protest who was arrested, Jasmine Duff, told SBS that protests were integral to society and these arrests are only silencing their message.

Here's why they were protesting.

Students and staff in attendance were protesting the proposed fee hikes, introduced in June by Education Minister Dan Tehan, which could mean the price of some degrees will double.

Humanities in particular could wind up costing $45,000 for a three-year undergraduate degree and law and commerce fees will increase by 28 per cent.

The Federal Government plans to funnel students into what they call "job relevant" industries such as psychology, English, teaching, agriculture, languages, science, health, maths, environmental science and architecture. They hope that by increasing the cost of humanities degrees, it will incentivise students to choose to study STEM subjects instead.

The government is hiking costs of studying humanities by 113%. But all these Cabinet members have arts degrees.

Dan Tehan
Alan Tudge
Greg Hunt
Paul Fletcher
Marise Payne
Michaelia Cash
Christian Porter

Plus former leaders:
Kevin Rudd
Julia Gillard
Bill Shorten
Malcom Turnbull

— Julia Baird (@bairdjulia) June 19, 2020

On top of these hikes, the government plans to cut overall funding to universities by $1,883 per student annually, while students pay an extra $675 a year in tuition.

The Federal Government also revealed in August that uni students who fail more than half of their units in their first year of study will lose access to HECS, making it even harder for students to pay off these skyrocketing fees.

Course ‘price’ has a fairly weak effect on student choice at Aus unis due to deferred cost and other factors like institutional status being more important. Tehan’s changes won’t do much to redirect students to STEM but will subject arts grads to longer and higher HECS repayments

— Gareth Bryant (@garethjbryant) June 18, 2020

The University of NSW (UNSW) and the Australian National University (ANU) announced earlier this month that they will be cutting more than 200 full time staff members from their roster because of the impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on their budgets. Last week the University of Melbourne also cut 450 jobs.

Universities and their staff are excluded from the JobKeeper payment so universities are doing whatever they can to stay afloat while the economy suffers.

Because the pandemic has left so many people unemployed or without work, many have turned to education to upskill and start a new career, which means that enrollments are on the rise.

With enrolments going up and staff numbers going down students are concerned that the quality of their education will drop and with the hike in costs, it’s kind of a slap in the face.

Header Image: Democracy Is Essential via Facebook