[LINK] Aussie Hex a Fiscal Embarrassment Causing Brain Drain

[tomk]

One of my hobby horses is the ridiculous fees that are being charged our 
students and the long term damage that is doing to our economy. It 
appears others [the Grattan Institute] agree.
I look forward to seeing some positive response from our Government to 
fix the Brain Drain that this Hex repayment issue is causing.

Free Science, Engineering and Arts would be an excellent start. Leaving 
only Law, Political Science, Business Studies, Economics and Medical as 
the paid for Degrees.
(We have too many lawyers and economists anyway...)

Quote:/ [From: 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-21/student-debt-climbs-to-record-26-billion/4473386]

Student debt climbs to record $26 billion

University students owe the Commonwealth a record amount of money, with 
a new report estimating more than $6 billion worth of student loans are 
never expected to be repaid.

The Grattan Institute report has found current and former students have 
accumulated Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debts of $26.3 billion, 
up almost $10 billion since 2007.

The report estimates that of that figure, $6.2 billion is never expected 
to be paid back.

The institute's Andrew Norton says many students are not expected to 
earn the $49,000 a year required before HELP loans need to start being 
repaid.

He says another reason is that students are earning more than $49,000 
but have moved overseas.

"They're living overseas and the system doesn't catch them," he told ABC 
News Breakfast.

"So that's why they are guessing, based on recent behaviour, that this a 
long-term consequence of lending this much money."

He says the Federal Government should follow the lead of New Zealand and 
England and attempt to recoup the money from Australian graduates who 
work overseas.

"It is definitely worth investigating," he said.

"The Government has said it is problematic and difficult to try and get 
people working overseas to pay their loans ... but if other countries 
can do it I assume Australia can as well."

Mr Norton says the Government should also consider things like a loan 
fee to try and recoup the money.

"They have a loan fee for full fee students in undergraduate colleges. I 
can't see why only that small group should pay a loan fee and not 
others," he said.

But he says the debt figures are not necessarily a negative thing.

"I think it's a symptom of success in the Australian system. The HECS 
system was designed to expand access and that's what it's doing," he said.

"Participation has more than doubled since the scheme was set up just 
over 20 years ago.

"Just the natural consequence of more students is the debt goes up.

"And also we're seeing a long-term increase in student satisfaction with 
teaching.

"We don't know how that directly translates into learning more, but 
there's a better learning environment than there used to be."
/Quote

-- 
If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; but if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.”– Don Marquis