123 School Work

Policy Analysis of Higher Education Financing

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  Assignment 3: Policy.Analysis of Higher Education Financing
  
  Introduction
  
  The growth of student number from the mid 1970's enrolled in higher education and the increasing shortage of federal funding for higher education brought about a crises of funding for the universities and an urgent need for additional funding.
  
  This analysis focuses on HECS (Higher Education Contribution Scheme). HECS was developed as a policy requiring students to pay for a university education via deferred loans (rather than by up-front fees).
  HECS as a policy was conceived and developed in 1980's and commenced operation in January 1989 following its adoption in the federal budget of August 1988.
  In essence the HECS system gives students access to an interest free loan to cover the fees (part costs) that they are charged at higher education institutions, with repayments contingent on their income being above a threshold level. Annual payments of the loans, indexed for inflation, are directly deducted by the ATO (Australian Tax Office). The deferred payment scheme is now supplemented by an option for students to pay the contribution up-front at a discounted rate. Since HECS was first introduced, the scheme has become much more costly for students (especially the cost of courses) and various other changes have been mooted, including deregulated fees and an effective voucher system [1999].
  
  The policy has been described as 'one of the most successful policy formulations in Australia because it is both radical and enduring' (Edwards 2001 p 97)...