This is what the Progressive Law Students Network gave out
The Dean of Law, Jill McKeough personally spoke to the UTS Vice-Chancellor about how she thinks upfront fees & $100,000 law degrees are GREAT, and are not inequitable at all! Jill also successfully withdrew upfront fees from the agenda of the Law Faculty Board, so we never got to discuss or decide on it (how convenient.) So much other dodgy stuff happened too....
Academic Board voted 37-20 in favour of upfront fees. The final step to introduce them is at University Council, next Monday 20th June. It’s being pushed through very quickly, without any consultation, without reason, and even without a proposal of how they intend to introduce it. And it’s being introduced in the middle of exams!
We are meeting at 8:30am on Monday 20th June in front of UTS Tower building, to go to the University Council meeting together. Not only are we demanding that upfront fees be eschewed for UTS, we are also demanding consultation, and a transparent decision-making process.
:::::: What are DUFF places? :::::::::
Domestic Undergraduate Full Fee-paying (DUFF) students will pay upfront to buy a place at UT$. The entry-level mark is lowered for students who have cash for UT$ coffers.
Under the proposed changes, 35% of UT$ students will be paying full deregulated fees. DUFF students won’t be paying the ‘cost’ of their education, they will be paying ‘whatever the market will bear’. Costs will likely range in excess of $100,000 for a degree. Loans are available for some students under the FEE-HELP scheme, but only up to $50,000 – utterly excluding students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
::::::: University entry on ability to pay, rather than merit ::::::::
The introduction of DUFF places will entrench a university entry scheme based on ability to pay, rather than merit. DUFF further limits the ability of lower socio-economic students to access higher education – cementing the already limited demographic of UT$ students.
Last year, University Council, the highest decision-making body at UT$, hiked HECS fees by 25%. Whilst merit-based entrance is theoretically still possible, the fee increase is regarded to have already deterred students from less privileged backgrounds from tertiary education, fearful of accruing a $50,000 debt. Upfront fees are yet another barrier to participation in education.
::::::::: DUFF, Privatisation and Cementing a User-pays education system ::::::::::
The user-pays ideology is that only those who use a service should have to pay for it. User-pays principles are based on the assumption that we are all separate, rational, self-interested individuals who pursue the profit motive in every aspect of our lives.
UT$ Management and Brendan Nelson’s "user-pays" education policies are founded on the belief that the individual student is the prime beneficiary of the education. This fails to recognise the whole of society benefits by having a skilled workforce and a society of critical thinkers.
The rapid erosion of funding to high education has created a climate for UT$ management to 'rationalise' the introduction of a user-pays university system. Full fees for international students were first introduced, then postgraduate students, and now the charging of full fees for domestic undergraduate students.
If UT$ introduces DUFF places, they will be implementing the user-pays ideology of the Howard government. It will mean that UT$ no longer supports the idea of a public accessible university education, but an education system where those who can pay get to go, privileging the rich.
Education should be free and accessible to all, not commodified and privatised to a big business with $100,000 degrees. Students shouldn’t be forced to pay for the 5 billion dollar cuts to university funding under the Howard government. A university degree should not cost $100,000 because of poor financial management at UT$.
::::::::: VSU, Upfront fees, and Why We Need our Unions to Fight ::::::::
More than ever we need our student and staff unions. Not only are we under attack from 5 billion dollars funding cuts, but the Howard government wants to smash our unions too. These attempts to ban collective organising is part of instilling the user-pays individualisation of universities. We need our student unions to be organising and raising dissent to upfront fees. This dissent is exactly why the government wants to ban them. The same applies for their attempts to make universities put staff on individual workplace agreements.
Students will not stand by and see these attacks and cuts any longer. We say no to VSU. We say no to upfront fees. We say no to AWAs for staff members.
:::::::::::: Dodgy Decisions on June 20 at Univer$ity Council ::::::::::::
University Council plans to vote on the introduction of DUFF places on June 20. There is no proposal regarding how DUFF places would be introduced at UT$. UT$ Management has deliberately failed to indicate how it intends to deal with a potential 35% increase in student numbers, increased class sizes, or the need for more buildings and campus space. Management has not expressed how it will increase staffing or teaching loads to deal with increased student support needs.
The established decision-making processes of UT$ have been bypassed. Staff, students, advocacy bodies, even Faculty Boards have not been consulted. Access to public education should not be decided by a few greedy bureaucrats!
::::::::::: Get active! :::::::::::::::
The introduction of DUFF places will create a two-tiered education system: entrenching privilege, deterring students from low socio-economic families, and allowing entrance based upon social class and wealth. It advocates a long-term replacement of publicly funded places and open access to our university system. This is the complete and rapid destruction of public education.
The privatisation of education through user-pay principles, deregulation and corporatisation, acts further to make universities the domain of the privileged and powerful. It creates enormous barriers of access and despite the rhetoric of 'choice'. The real agenda is to shut out mass participation in education and to replicate the divide between the wealthy and oppressed.
As students, however, we have a choice as to whether we sit idly by as governments, UT$ administration and corporations attack our education; or whether we forge together and take action to defend and extend access to publicly funded education. Don't be a drone for the capitalist system, get active and get involved in the Education Action Group. Rise up and revolt, fight for free education for all.
