Examining Higher Education Reform Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Examining Higher Education Reform. Answer: The article is examining higher education reform that occurred in May in Australia. The reform involves a pre-budget declaration of various changes that will be made to the higher education funding. The interested in this issue are students, universities, the government, banks and other financial institutions who give student loans. These changes include a 1.8% increase per year in student fees between 2018 and 2021, making it a 7.5% increase in total (Bexley, 2017). The fee for undergraduate will go from $2,000 to $3,600. The repayment threshold for Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) will also be reduced, meaning that will not only need to borrow more money to get their degree but also make sure that they back it back much earlier. Further universities are also affected given that with the increased fees and faster loan repayment schedules comes a cut in the form of an efficiency dividend reducing funds allocated to teaching by 2.8% starting in 2018 until 2019. So from 2018 students and universities will be operating under a lot of financial stress which might affect the quality of education. The article was very clear and interesting; it touches on a topic many find controversial and upsetting but needs to be discussed because it affects future of not only Australian students but of the countrys economy (Gorman, 2015). The article revolves around the new higher education reform that increased the cost of getting an education that will leave students and university in a financial crisis and will contribute to the rise of student debts. Today, student loans are the highest non-mortgage consumer debt in Australia, and instead of proposing solutions for the matters, the government has come up with new policies that will put even more of a financial burden on students in addition dealing with the high rate of unemployment of graduates (Lamacraft, 2016). With an increase of 1.8% per year of student fees, students now have to borrow more money to get a degree; in addition, the new reform has made the loans much more short-term they were which creates a repayment crisis similar to what is happening in the United States even though people used to say that Australians could teach Americans a thing or to when it comes to student loans (Dynarski, 2014). Students are left out in the open to face harsh realities of the financial world not only in Australia but globally that seems to always be in an economic crisis. Students do not know how to deal with the high amount debt they would have incurred by the time they graduate because the resources are scarce. All of these challenges are causing a change in demand because some young people decide not to get a higher and others will drop out because their purchasing power has been stripped away. This reform will create the mindset of what is the point of going to the university all you will get a fter graduation is an overwhelmingly high amount of debt and no employment. Universities are not spared either; they experiencing an efficiency dividend cut of $384.2 million to the Commonwealth Grant Scheme (Watson, Chapman, Croucher, Clarke, 2017) Even though the efficiency dividend will not cause universities to go bankrupt, it will interfere with supply I terms of the quality and quantity of education being offered. This will also interfere with the competition in the market because every university will be occupying each other in ways to cut but cost and save up instead on providing unique services. Students will suffer the most with the Higher education reform. Even before the shorter deadlines and more money to repay, it was already complicated to paying off student loan debts due to the high rate of unemployment for college graduates. To ensure a bright future for themselves, the process needs to start even before a loan is taken. Students need to be careful and inform themselves about the different types of student loans before sending an application. Faced with much more expensive fees, Australian students will be better off with federal subsidized student loans with income-driven repayment options (Light, 2016). Further, student loan debt consolidation would be most appropriate considering the nature of the reform as it will give students as it will make them eligible more for more repayment benefits and forgiveness programs. This reform is not sustainable. Policyholders have to find others to way achieve the governments goals which would include reinitiating caps on funded places that can be offered by universities and upholding the demand-driven system. The government could also explore other options that will allow the fees to increase but wont be so crippling for students including fee deregulation combined with putting caps on income-contingent (Dawkins, 2016). This article is very important because the subject affects the future of all Australians especially the younger generation. The reform is not sustainable, a full deregulation of student fees will leave a lot of young without a higher education. As a result, minimizing their opportunity of getting a higher-paying job, although this is not guaranteed. For years it has been preached by the government that education is an investment for the future and just like all investments, there are costs to be pay in the present to get the benefits in the years to come; however, the same government is proposing a reform is making that the cost to be paid way too high due to the increased amount of loans to the point many young people are deciding that it is not worth it. Universities will not thrive under the conditions the reform is proposing either; instead of emphasizing on the quality and quantity of education they will be focused making cuts of their own to remain profitable. The quality of teaching will be affected by the nature of the reform which will put future students at a great disadvantage. References Bexley, E. (2017). Higher education reform: small changes for now but big ones to come. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/higher-education-reform-small-changes-for-now-but-big-ones-to-come-76978 Dawkins, P. (2016). Can the government realistically cut funding by 20% for each student in higher education?. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/can-the-government-realistically-cut-funding-by-20-for-each-student-in-higher-education-62358 Dynarski, S. (2014). An Economists Perspective on Student Loans in The United States. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/economist_perspective_student_loans_dynarski.pdf Gorman, R. (2015). How student-loan debt is dragging down the economy. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/3-charts-explain-the-effect-of-student-loans-on-the-economy-2015-5?IR=T Lamacraft, T. (2016). University graduates struggle to find full-time work as enrolments increase, study finds. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-29/uni-graduate-job-prospects-in-decline/7890562 Light, L. (2016). How To Manage Student Loan Debt -- Part I. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/lawrencelight/2016/08/23/how-to-managing-student-loan-debt-part-i/#166d89e66188 Watson, L., Chapman, B., Croucher, G., Clarke, K. (2017). Federal Budget 2017: whats changing in education?. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/federal-budget-2017-whats-changing-in-education-77177