Students at the University of Western Australia could soon be paying more for their undergraduate degrees, if the federal government's planned higher education reform package is passed.
The university was the first in Australia to announce how it would adjust its fees under the government's proposed deregulation, in a bid to "end widespread and uninformed speculation".
"The University feels compelled to announce its fees proposal at the earliest opportunity to provide greater certainty to current and prospective students about its pricing plans in a deregulated market," deputy vice chancellor Professor Alec Cameron said.
"However, this fee pricing strategy would need to be reconsidered should the Senate make amendments to the Bill."
In a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Employment, the university indicated Commonwealth-supported students would be charged $16,000 per year, or $2,000 per six-point subject.
Commonwealth-supported students are currently charged between $6,000 and $10,000 per year.
"Undergraduate degree fees will need to rise by on average 30 per cent to simply maintain the current funding level," the submission read.
"In the case of UWA's most popular course – science, including engineering science majors – the University's fees would need to rise to $14,213 just to compensate for the recent funding cuts without raising a single extra dollar for the University."
If the fee hikes do come to pass, it would not come into effect until 2016 and would only affect those who enrol after the next federal budget is handed down.
Under the HELP (formerly HECS) system, which is to be retained under the government's plan, eligible students would repay a portion of the fees once they earned more than $50,638 in a financial year.
In an email to all university staff, Professor Cameron said the institution was "broadly in favour of the Government's higher education reform package", but that it had some reservations.
"UWA is concerned about plans to charge a real interest rate on student debts, and a 20 per cent on average reduction in student funding which will have a disproportionate impact on science, technology, engineering and maths subjects," Professor Cameron wrote.
A representative from Fremantle's Notre Dame University told Fairfax Media no decision had been made yet regarding fees from 2016 onwards.
The university's vice chancellor Professor Celia Hammond wrote in June that under the proposed changes "all domestic undergraduate students will be eligible to be enrolled at Notre Dame as Commonwealth Supported students". Currently, only half of Notre Dame students meet the criteria.
Edith Cowan University's acting vice chancellor Professor Arshad Omari said the university "won't be in a position to confirm tuition fees until the likely final policy settings become clearer", while Murdoch and Curtin universities said both are still considering their future fee structure.
