Calls to scrap full-fee paying cap at university
The Higher Education Support Act of 2005 was supposed to help universities raise more cash, by raising the cap on domestic fee-paying undergraduate students from 25 to 35 per cent of total enrollments. But now the Group of 8 universities – including sandstone unis like Melbourne and Sydney, and ANU – have made a submission to the Government’s review of higher education funding, suggesting that it would be better for universities if the cap was scrapped altogether. They say that the Act doesn’t give universities enough flexibility, and the plan to increase fee payers hasn’t worked. Michael Nguyen is the National President of the National Union of Students. He said that despite their funding woes, removing the cap on domestic full fee paying students is not something the universities should be considering. But Deborah Tranter from the University of South Australia disagrees.