{"id":800100,"date":"2026-07-14T17:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/800100\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T17:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:10:17","slug":"job-ready-graduates-scheme-why-the-albanese-government-is-facing-criticism-over-high-university-fees-and-the-future-of-the-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/800100\/","title":{"rendered":"Job-Ready Graduates scheme: Why the Albanese government is facing criticism over high university fees and the future of the program"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cUnfair\u201d and \u201cfailed\u201d. This is how Education Minister Jason Clare has categorised the Job-ready Graduates scheme, an unsuccessful attempt by Scott Morrison\u2019s government to steer students away from the humanities through lowering the costs of degrees such as nursing and teaching and sending law, commerce and arts costs skyrocketing.<\/p>\n

After more than four years in power, Anthony Albanese\u2019s government has yet to commit to undoing the fee hikes, which led to $50,000 arts degrees and $90,000 double degrees.<\/p>\n

\"ChetChet Shen Law is facing two radically different costs for his university degrees.George Chan<\/p>\n

The newly created Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC) will provide advice on the cost of degrees mid-next year.<\/p>\n

\u201c[This] means that the Job-ready Graduates (JRG) scheme will continue at least until 2028,\u201d independent MP Monique Ryan said in question time last week. \u201cNext year, 285,000 students will pay more than $54,000 for arts, law and commerce degrees, and $90,000 for double degrees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research from the 2050 Alliance, an advocacy group of nine member universities, says students paid up to $368 million more in 2024 than they would have without JRG and the government kicked in up to $1.1 billion less than they would have otherwise. The group was formed with the goal of lifting tertiary attainment to 80 per cent of working-age Australians by the year 2050.<\/p>\n

A Greens bill to undo JRG failed last month, with even those who support the end of it opposing the changed legislation because it would lower student contributions to degrees without increasing government spending.<\/p>\n

Constitutional restraints mean the proposed legislation cannot require increased Commonwealth spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Albanese Labor government talks a big game on equity in education, but they have voted against lowering uni fees and easing the burden on students facing spiralling student debt amid a cost-of-living and housing crisis,\u201d Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prime minister got to enjoy free higher education, but he isn\u2019t willing to see students today reap the same benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faruqi is not the only one weighing up Albanese and his cabinet\u2019s university costs against that of the contemporary student.<\/p>\n

Curtin University pro vice-chancellor Richard Blythe wrote in a paper last week: \u201cAlbanese never tires of telling us he was raised by a single mum on a disability pension, in public housing in Camperdown \u2013 and that public institutions are the reason a working-class kid could become prime minister. Clare tells a parallel story: the first in his family to finish school, the first to go to university, a product of Cabramatta Public and Canley Vale High, who says plainly that Gough Whitlam changed what was possible.<\/p>\n

\"RodgerRodger Liang says the fee imbalance is not fair at all. Peter Rae<\/p>\n

\u201cThe very degrees that carried these men out of disadvantage (arts, law, economics) now sit in the funding band the Commonwealth has all but abandoned.\u201d<\/p>\n

UNSW engineering and commerce student Chet Shen Law says the government\u2019s fee settings have left him paying $67,000 for a 5.7\u2011year double degree, with commerce subjects costing about twice as much per unit as engineering \u2013 even though he finds engineering \u201cway harder\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said he chose to study commerce for financial literacy, barely thinking about the cost because \u201cit would just go on HECS\u201d, but now often catches himself wondering why he is paying so much.<\/p>\n

Shen Law has worked hard to \u201cmax out the value of uni\u201d. He lives with his parents, tries to cut his commute to two days a week and is trying to immerse himself in uni life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am trying to volunteer as much as I can and participate in student activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

He isn\u2019t alone. University journalism and creative intelligence and innovation student Rodger Liang transferred from UNSW to UTS right when the new fee system hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had stayed at UNSW, I wouldn\u2019t be paying these higher fees, but I moved for journalism and decided to wear the cost,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it is fair at all. Access to humanities is more important now than ever. If we are going to put that behind high fees, then you are just going to have a very small, select group of people actually benefit. We need humanities now more than ever in the age of AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Tutorials<\/a><\/p>\n

He has accepted the high fee cost, and has tried to make the most of uni life to get bang for his buck, regularly taking part in clubs, activities and free lunches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d be kind of a waste if I didn\u2019t try and make the most of my grades first off, but any other free opportunities at university.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clare declined to answer whether the Albanese government planned to repeal JRG. In June, Clare said he was awaiting information from the new statutory body. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take a while,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"EmilyEmily Kowal<\/a> is a Walkley award-winning education reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-800100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}