Higher Education
29 April 2018
Dropping out: the benefits and costs of trying university
More than 50,000 students who started university in Australia this year will drop out. Part-time students are particularly at risk. Policy makers should do more to reduce the number of young people who leave university with nothing but debt and regret.
4 December 2016
Shared interest: a universal loan fee for HELP
A 15 per cent loan fee on all new tertiary education lending could save the Commonwealth $700 million a year and make HELP fairer and stronger.
7 August 2016
Mapping Australian higher education 2016
Politicians and business people want students to study science, but half of recent science graduates looking for full-time work can’t find it, according to the fourth Grattan report mapping the state of the higher education sector.
14 June 2016
Orange Book 2016: priorities for the next Commonwealth Government
Australia faces many domestic policy challenges as the election looms. Yet a survey of seven years of Grattan Institute reports and policy proposals shows that a government prepared to forcefully articulate the public interest could win public support for a brave and powerful reform agenda.
28 March 2016
HELP for the future: fairer repayment of student debt
Reducing the thresholds at which former students repay HELP debt would increase repayments by $500 million a year. Without change, HELP costs will soar, putting other education programs in jeopardy.
1 November 2015
The cash nexus: how teaching funds research in Australian universities
More than $2 billion in surpluses from teaching are being used to fund research in Australian universities. Universities have powerful incentives to spend on research, but the benefits for students are less clear.
30 August 2015
University fees: what students pay in deregulated markets
Student fees now comprise a fifth of public university funding – almost $6 billion a year – and international students pay most of them. Despite often high fees, the market is growing.
12 October 2014
Mapping Australian higher education, 2014-15
Graduates of Australia’s elite universities earn more over a career than other graduates, but when it comes to salary, what you study matters more than where you study.
6 April 2014
Doubtful debt: the rising cost of student loans
By 2017 the Government will have $13 billion of student loans on its books that it does not expect to collect. With modest reforms it could recoup $800 million a year while still meeting the loan scheme’s goals.
6 August 2013
Keep the caps off
The Government should reconsider any plan to end its university open access policy. For a small saving, the change would reduce the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, hurt university innovation and shrink the supply of graduates into areas of shortage.