A new learning curve

The federal goverment’s tertiary fee shake-up may be good news for some and spell disappointment for others

- JULIA NEWBOULD

Future nurses and teachers will benefit from the federal government’s university fee restructure, but with fees for humanities, law and economics degrees set to rise, some students may be forced to rethink their options.

New students in 2021 can expect to pay about 28% more for a law degree, and the cost of a humanities degree is likely to more than double from about $20,000 to $43,500. Those looking to enrol in nursing and teaching will benefit from a fee drop of about 45%, and in science 23%. Current students, on the other hand, will not see an increase in their fees but will get the benefit of any reductions.

Weighing up the costs

Lauren Heaydon, careers coach and founder of career counseling website Mentor You, says the government’s fee change announcement has driven career decisions for some of the people she mentors.

“I had a student receive an early offer for an arts degree at the University of Notre Dame but her father talked her into a teaching degree instead,” says Heaydon. The difference was an arts degree costing $14,000 a year versus a degree in primary education costing $3500, but Heaydon says arts and communications degrees are good if you’re unsure what you want to do.

“Taking a communications track would have been a good area for her, and at the end of the third year she could do a masters in teaching for a fourth and fifth year, if she wanted,” says Heaydon. “But when the new figures came out the family thought it was too expensive to add a master’s degree costing $50,000 all up instead of a teaching degree on its own.”