Universities want taxpayers to subsidise medicines, healthcare, car registration and power bills for every domestic student, by handing out the same concession cards given to pensioners.
As official data reveals student poverty is fuelling dropout rates, Universities Australia is demanding concession cards for every Australian student – regardless of their income or whether they live with their parents.
UA chief executive Luke Sheehy said student rents had soared 40 per cent since 2021, with students now spending 27 per cent more on groceries, 43 per cent extra on fuel and 39 per cent more on power bills.
He said concession cards – which are already given to the poorest students receiving Youth Allowance, Austudy or Abstudy – should be granted to every Australian university student.
“A concession card can mean cheaper medicines and access to discounts on things like public transport, energy and other everyday costs,’’ he will tell the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success conference in Brisbane on Tuesday.
“You can have two students sitting next to each other in the same lecture, paying the same rent, shopping at the same supermarket, catching the same bus to campus. One gets access to those concessions, the other doesn’t. That doesn’t make much sense to me.’’
Concession cards, which are means-tested for welfare recipients and pensioners, can provide bulk-billed doctors’ appointments, cheaper medicines, and discounts on car registration, power bills and public transport.
Universities Australia also wants international students to be offered the same public transport discounts as Australian university students. “They study in the same classrooms, live in the same communities and face the same rising costs,’’ he will say.
While welcoming the Albanese government’s election-winning policy of forgiving $16bn worth of student debt before the last election, Mr Sheehy will argue for more immediate “practical cost-of-living relief’’.
He will warn that students are skipping classes to take more shifts at work, cutting back on groceries and dropping out of university.
“A student whose family can help with the rent has options,’’ he will tell the conference.
“Having parents who can transfer a few hundred dollars when things get tight shouldn’t be an unofficial prerequisite for succeeding at university.
“That isn’t merit (or) equal opportunity.’’
Student poverty is exposed in the federal Education Department’s latest survey of 324,000 higher education students.
One in six students had seriously considered leaving university last year – with one-third of them citing financial difficulties as a reason.
The Student Experience Survey, published on Monday, shows stress and mental health were cited as reasons by 40 per cent of students planning to drop out in 2025.
Barely one in five blamed a lack of academic support, or boredom, as the reason for quitting.
Three-quarters of students were satisfied with their studies, the survey showed, although some elite sandstone institutions were marked down on teaching quality, skills development, student support, learning resources and peer engagement.
Thirty per cent of students at the Australian National University were not happy with their educational experience, along with at least a quarter of students at the University of Sydney, University of Melbourne and University of NSW.
Many regional universities scored top marks, with at least 80 per cent of students satisfied with the University of New England and the University of the Sunshine Coast. The Australian Catholic University, Edith Cowan University, and Deakin University also scored highly.
Religious universities – the Australian University of Theology, the University of Divinity and the Seventh Day Adventist Church’s Avondale University – received the highest satisfaction ratings above 90 per cent.
Electrical engineering students, as well as those studying computing or information technology, were among the unhappiest with the quality of their course, with one-third expressing dissatisfaction.
Veterinary science, tourism and hospitality, teaching degrees, dentistry, medicine, sport, literature, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and agriculture and environmental studies were highly rated by at least 80 per cent of students.
The Social Research Centre – which conducted the survey on behalf of the Education Department – found students were happiest with degrees delivered on-campus instead of online.
“Students tell us that meaningful connections with their peers, academics and campus communities matter,’’ Angela Baker from the Social Research Centre said.
“Participation in on-campus learning creates opportunities for collaboration, networking and belonging.’’