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This is not entirely accurate because most Australian domestic university students have their fees heavily subsidised by the federal government, which is why th

by sjy 9y ago

This is not entirely accurate because most Australian domestic university students have their fees heavily subsidised by the federal government, which is why they are called 'HECS-HELP contributions' and not fees. After taking into account government grants (including those made on account of domestic students' fees) and other sources of income international student fees make up less than 20% of university income on average – see slide 35 on this 'data snapshot': https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/ArticleDocuments/169/Data%20snapshotv6%20webres.pdf.aspx https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/ArticleDocuments/16...

cyphar 9y ago
I think you may have misunderstood your source. "Government grants" (which are going to go away in the next few years if Turnbull has his way) have nothing to do with student fees. They are effectively research grants, and other forms of funding from the government (since our universities are partially publicly funded). And since everyone pays tax, effectively everyone is paying for those grants. As for HECS-HELP loans, this is quite different from a subsidy. It's a loan from the government that has a guaranteed return (pretty good deal for them). But even from your own source, international student fees are 18.8% and total "local" contributions (including HECS loans) are 19.9%. Which is effectively what my original point was -- approximately half of the funding directly from students is from international students even though much less than half of the students are international students (I never said that 50% of total university funding is from international students, please re-read my comment). If you are a local student and you don't use HECS you still only pay <25% what an international student would pay -- because they have a different per-course-unit fee structure that's far more expensive.
- sjy 9y ago
  Most government grants are not research grants; they fund the component of domestic undergraduate tuition which is not repayable through HECS-HELP. 'The Australian Government subsidises a CSP [Commonwealth-supported place] by paying part of the fees for the place directly to the university. The subsidy amount is not a loan and students do not have to pay the subsidy amount back.' [1] This component of government grants is not broken down on the source I provided, but it is explained in the notes to universities' financial statements. See for example those of Australia's largest university, at p 66 [2]. $345 million was provided under the Commonwealth Grants Scheme, compared to $214 million under HECS-HELP and $58 million from the Australian Research Council (research grants are also provided by other bodies such as the NHMRC). The CGS is the means of funding CSPs, not a source of research grants [3]. Your original point, that 'international students make up more than half of the funding-through-fees,' might actually be correct even if you accept that payments under the CGS are on account of 'fees' (which is the language used in [1]). It is correct at Monash, where international student fees generated $653 million, compared to $1.03 billion from the Australian government including CGS, HECS-HELP and research grants. Monash is an outlier because almost half of its students are international or offshore [4], but it leaves me unsure as to the reliability of my original source. We can certainly agree that international student fees are a very substantial source of income, but I wanted to correct the common misconception that HECS-HELP loans are the sole source of domestic tuition funds. [1] http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/helppayingmyfees/csps/pages/commonwealth-supported-places http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/helppayingmyfees... [2] http://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/844508/monash-university-2016-annual-report.pdf http://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/844508/mon... [3] https://www.education.gov.au/commonwealth-grant-scheme-cgs https://www.education.gov.au/commonwealth-grant-scheme-cgs [4] http://www.monash.edu/about/who/glance http://www.monash.edu/about/who/glance

by sjy 9y ago

cyphar 9y ago

I think you may have misunderstood your source. "Government grants" (which are going to go away in the next few years if Turnbull has his way) have nothing to do with student fees. They are effectively research grants, and other forms of funding from the government (since our universities are partially publicly funded). And since everyone pays tax, effectively everyone is paying for those grants. As for HECS-HELP loans, this is quite different from a subsidy. It's a loan from the government that has a guaranteed return (pretty good deal for them). But even from your own source, international student fees are 18.8% and total "local" contributions (including HECS loans) are 19.9%. Which is effectively what my original point was -- approximately half of the funding directly from students is from international students even though much less than half of the students are international students (I never said that 50% of total university funding is from international students, please re-read my comment). If you are a local student and you don't use HECS you still only pay <25% what an international student would pay -- because they have a different per-course-unit fee structure that's far more expensive.

sjy 9y ago
Most government grants are not research grants; they fund the component of domestic undergraduate tuition which is not repayable through HECS-HELP. 'The Australian Government subsidises a CSP [Commonwealth-supported place] by paying part of the fees for the place directly to the university. The subsidy amount is not a loan and students do not have to pay the subsidy amount back.' [1] This component of government grants is not broken down on the source I provided, but it is explained in the notes to universities' financial statements. See for example those of Australia's largest university, at p 66 [2]. $345 million was provided under the Commonwealth Grants Scheme, compared to $214 million under HECS-HELP and $58 million from the Australian Research Council (research grants are also provided by other bodies such as the NHMRC). The CGS is the means of funding CSPs, not a source of research grants [3]. Your original point, that 'international students make up more than half of the funding-through-fees,' might actually be correct even if you accept that payments under the CGS are on account of 'fees' (which is the language used in [1]). It is correct at Monash, where international student fees generated $653 million, compared to $1.03 billion from the Australian government including CGS, HECS-HELP and research grants. Monash is an outlier because almost half of its students are international or offshore [4], but it leaves me unsure as to the reliability of my original source. We can certainly agree that international student fees are a very substantial source of income, but I wanted to correct the common misconception that HECS-HELP loans are the sole source of domestic tuition funds. [1] http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/helppayingmyfees/csps/pages/commonwealth-supported-places http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/helppayingmyfees... [2] http://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/844508/monash-university-2016-annual-report.pdf http://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/844508/mon... [3] https://www.education.gov.au/commonwealth-grant-scheme-cgs https://www.education.gov.au/commonwealth-grant-scheme-cgs [4] http://www.monash.edu/about/who/glance http://www.monash.edu/about/who/glance