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  • AADD Moderators: swilow | Vagabond696

H.E.C.S - Your opinions if you will

I agree with muzby. I don't have a problem paying for my uni degree, I have a problem with a 25% increase.

Originally posted by PsychoKitten


I would rather my tax dollars go into skilling workers to create a productive society than allowing everyone to attend university, in fact I think that we should first look at our schooling system before we complain about the state of universities. If you wish to attend university for the ‘education’ alone then you should do it once you carry your weight in this society rather than expect everyone to carry you whilst you explore.

That's slightly idealistic isn't it? I agree with you in that I wish more emphasis was placed on on the job training... however it just isn't how our society works. I was recently told a story about how a certain company was looking for a new administration manager and when going through the applicants they threw away all the resumes of people who didn't have a degree. Subsequently people with 10-15 years administration experience were overlooked for people who had a degree in anything, be that Arts or Marine Biology. There is a certain belief that people with a degree are general more capable and although I do think it's a fallacy it's just the way it is.

And while some people believe an Arts degree is a waste of time and space, a world of business managers is not my idea of a functional society. Artists, philosophers, writers and historians are the people who shape the thinking of a society and play an invaluable role in defining our culture. That being said, there is often not much money to be found in pursuing these careers and it's a sad thought that because of the cost of a degree people would be inclined to avoid these vocations for fear of not being able to pay them back.
 
I don't think education should be a privalige (although it is) I actually think it should be a RIGHT...why the hell should i not be able to get an education because my parents can't afford it? It adds to the class society that we live in now. I don't think that if someone wants to better themselves in an accademic way then they should not be able to because they are struggling to put bread on the table to provide for a family and are stuck in some menial job to do it...what sort of a life is that? Thats not "living"
 
Originally posted by up all night
That's slightly idealistic isn't it? I agree with you in that I wish more emphasis was placed on on the job training... however it just isn't how our society works. I was recently told a story about how a certain company was looking for a new administration manager and when going through the applicants they threw away all the resumes of people who didn't have a degree. Subsequently people with 10-15 years administration experience were overlooked for people who had a degree in anything, be that Arts or Marine Biology. There is a certain belief that people with a degree are general more capable and although I do think it's a fallacy it's just the way it is.


That may have been the case 5 years ago, and yes it still happens but there is a general shift towards employing skilled workers over degree qualified individuals with no workplace skills. It costs more in the long run for a company to hire somebody fresh from university than it does to hire somebody who is work skilled, hell it even costs more in the short run with on the job training - especially with higher skilled positions. I won't lie and say it's not highly desireable to have a degree as well as those skills but in general skills are valued over book learning.
 
First of all the idea of a free education is a thing of the past, anyone who clings on to that idea needs to enter the now. It's gone and dead, just as much as entering a company after high school and they pay for your training and you stay there for 25-30 years as an employee.

If it wasn't for HECS I wouldn't be able to get an education. HECS has allowed anyone irregardless of their economic stand point in society to further their education. This is the problem with the American system. If you think HECS is bad, ask a Yank how much they pay for their educations. Most of the Americans I've encountered at uni come to Australia for a year pay roughly double the HECS we do (up front as well) as a holiday to drink and piss it up cause its cheaper than wasting a year at Uni back in the states.

As for increases in the HECS rates, that's the way things are going, everything is getting more expensive. Inflation is a bitch. I think more attention should be paid to not how much money the uni is getting but rather how the uni is spending the money it is getting. At my old uni they used to regularly rip up garden beds, trees and pathways, dig around in the dirt and re do them over and over again. Money that surely could be better spent.

Other things you might be interested in, your HECS doesn't earn interest but is adjusted according to CPI. Currently it works out for your average 3 year science degree at an extra $500 biannually (if I remember correctly). You do receive a discount if you make voluntary contributions. You don't have to pay it back if you earn under the threshold, earn tax free pay as in overseas and I believe it is written off after 20 years. On your tax declaration form you fill out when you start employment if you tick yes you have an accumulated HECS debt, your employee takes money of your pay if the annual salary is likely to be equal or greater than the threshold. In regards to Youth Allowance and Austudy, Centrelink won't pay for anything greater than an honours degree (unless your indiginous, but lets not get into that) and you can do more than one degree while getting payments only if you pass the previous. If you play it right you can collect YAL (which is far and away better than AUS (for those over 25)) and complete at LEAST 3 full degrees.
 
What Psuedo said.
Although that service and amenities fee really does give me the shit.
=D
PEACE
 
Yeah same K_T. When I was at Curtin I was a guild member the whole time cause it was worth it for me. But I don't like the idea of students being forced to pay the money and it either goes to the guild or the uni. Students should have the choice as to whether they join the guild or not and fuck the uni we give them heaps already.
 
i've obviously come into this a little late, but i feel fairly much the same way as muzby and up all night. tbh, i just can't see why education isn't a higher priority for our country (not to mention many others). like up all night said, education (should) form the backbone of our society, and everybody should be encouraged to pursue it.

ergh, i can handle the fact that i'm paying to put myself through uni. i think the fees should be lower though, and a 25% increase is a real kick in the face to those of us who want to actually do something with our lives (though it's probably worth mentioning here that, yes, i am aware that you can pursue very worthwhile lives and careers outside of the university system, but it's pretty obvious that tertiary education is the main institution catering for people's desire to learn).

btw, i think nelson's reforms are purporting to cut the (currently) compulsory uni fee each year, too, making it voluntary instead. personally, i don't agree :)
 
Ah HECS... As has been said before it is good and it is bad. It is also getting better and its getting worse.

I am really glad that HECS exists otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go to uni, well it would have been extremely hard for my parents to pay for it. I now have a $22,000 debt to pay off. That is kinda insane, but it is something that I don't really have to worry about as it will come out in my pay when I start earning enough. Speaking of which I am really glad that the threshhold will be going up as paying off HECS with an income of roughly $25000 p.a would be kinda fucked.

The 25% on top thing is relatively fucked but what you have to consider is that most uni's are virtually broke and that the government is currently contributing ~70-75% of the actual cost of our degrees. Although this is a big step away from free education, those days are past and aren't going to come back no matter how many student rallies we have.

I am glad that I had the chance to have a university education and the ability to go on and pursue my doctorate, but I am even more glad that I have finished my degree BEFORE the HECS increases come in :)

CB.
 
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