The ineffective, short-sighted policy that turbocharged student debt

July 27, 2026 — 5:00am

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The controversial Job-ready Graduates scheme failed to shift undergraduates to science, technology, engineering or mathematics and stripped billions from university funding.

It has also loaded a growing number of Australians with debts of more than $50,000.

Their numbers have grown by 55 per cent in the past five years, after Scott Morrison’s government’s clumsy attempt to steer student enrolments toward areas of expected employment growth and national priority imploded, but only after driving the cost of arts and business degrees skyward.

The federal government has released university course costings for 2027, with law, accounting, business, economics, communications, history, philosophy, political science and anthropology all costing an........

© The Sydney Morning Herald