The Australian Law Student’s Society (ALSA) today applauded the Federal Government’s goal of increasing participation in higher education by moving to a demand driven funding model. However, ALSA is concerned that the Government’s failure to review the per-student funding that Universities receive will mean these changes actually increase inequity and fragmentation within the university system.
‘There hasn’t been a serious review of the amount Universities receive per student in each course since 1991 when the Relative Funding Model was introduced’ said ALSA Vice-President Education, Chris Holmes.
In 1997 the Relative Funding Model was renamed the Commonwealth Grant Scheme and yearly indexing of grants was dropped to a fixed 2% per year, substantially below CPI and real cost increases. As a result the size of the grants has become increasingly inadequate, while the distribution of funding between courses has remained unchanged.
‘The Commonwealth Grant Scheme determines how much money the Federal Government contributes per student. Students in each type of course receive different amounts depending on how much it used to cost to teach that course in 1991. With advances in education, new courses, and technical innovations, it is farcical that this has never been reviewed, particularly when some areas, such as Law, were underfunded from the start’ said Chris Holmes.
Universities currently only receive $1674 per year for each law student they enrol.
‘Gillard’s plan assumes that the current funding is adequate – this is simply not true. In many disciplines, such as Law and Engineering, the amount Universities receives does not cover the cost of teaching. Commonwealth Supported Places have to be subsidised from more profitable courses or full-fee places. Taking more Commonwealth Supported students just increases the total funding shortfall. What University is going to take on more students if they can’t fund their teaching?’
Chris Holmes continued ‘The Bradley Review noted that the current funding model was a major problem, but they simply didn’t have time to assess how much each discipline should be funded.’
‘If the government does not undertake an evidence-based review of the amount of funding that each student receives, deregulation of student numbers will have unpredictable consequences. The number of Commonwealth Supported places in popular, but underfunded courses will shrink and some Universities are likely to move to only offer full-fee places.’
Media contact
Christopher Holmes
Vice President (Education)
+61 4 2576 4893
