Anthony Albanese MP, Federal Member for Grayndler, has condemned the American-style cost of Australian university degrees revealed today in The Good Universities Guide 2007.

According to the Guide, many university degrees now cost in excess of $200,000. A full fee paying place in Arts/Medicine at the University of New South Wales now costs $237,000, and Design (Industrial Design)/Arts (International Studies) at the University of Technology – Sydney costs $107,640.

There are 41 full fee degrees in New South Wales which will cost an Australian undergraduate student $100,000 or more.

Mr Albanese said, “At the University of Sydney, on the edge of my electorate, a full fee paying place in Veterinary Science now costs $153,000. This is the Americanisation of our university system by John Howard. In Australia we are about encouraging young people to go university, not leaving them with debts the size of a home mortgage.”

No ordinary 18-year old or their family can pay anything like these sums for a degree.

“John Howard’s American-style education system means that not only do degrees cost the earth but access is also completely inequitable. Currently, people who can pay their way into a degree will get places over people with higher marks who can’t afford the fees.”

“Bright young Australian students are being muscled out of supported university places to make way for full-fee degrees.”

“Labor will put an end to full-fee places for Australian undergraduates at public universities.”

Labor’s Higher Education White Paper – Australia’s Universities: Building Our Future in the World promises that students will gain access to higher education according to their merits, not their financial means.

“The ALP believes in giving all students an equal chance to go to university if they want to. Full-fee places not only undermine that, but drive up the cost of university education.”

“Only Labor is committed to giving Australian university students the opportunities and support they deserve,” he concluded.