HUNDREDS of millions of dollars will flow onto university campuses next year under a Rudd Government plan to restore student services gutted by Howard government laws banning compulsory student union fees.
Youth Minister Kate Ellis will today announce changes that will allow universities from July next year to charge a compulsory annual fee of up to $250 per student to fund sporting facilities, child care, counselling and other student services.
The cap, which will be indexed each year, will ensure the fee does not reach the levels it did before the coalition's voluntary student unionism laws were introduced in 2006, when some universities were charging as much as $600 per student.
In another measure to ensure the fee does not create a barrier to access for poorer students, the Government will create a HECS-style income-contingent loan system to allow students to defer payment of the fee.
Universities will not be required to collect a fee and can choose to set it at a lower level. But with the nation's equivalent full-time enrolments standing at about 1 million, the scheme could net as much as $250 million a year, more than replacing the $170 million stripped out of the system by the Howard-era laws, which led to a 30% cut in student organisation staff.
In a further boost, the Government will broaden the objectives of the Capital Development Pool to allow it to pay for refurbishments of neglected facilities.
Under the scheme, all universities will be required to provide a basic level of student support services and adhere to national protocols on representation and advocacy as a condition of their Commonwealth funding — regardless of whether they choose to levy a compulsory fee.
These standards are still to be determined, but they are expected to prevent the compulsory fee from being spent on political campaigns.
Ms Ellis stressed the policy was not a return to compulsory student unionism, and it would remain illegal for a university to force a student to be a member of a student organisation.
The new system, which follows a review of the impact of student unionism, was widely welcomed.
"I think the Government has given us a lifeline," said Peter Boyle, president of the student representative council at La Trobe University.
Angus McFarland, president of the National Union of Students, said the Labor policy was a "win-win" for students.
"We're very happy and relieved that we have a clear path forward to not only restore student services and representation but actually guaranteeing them … and there's not going to be any forced upfront cost," he said. But he said universities should be required to pass the fees on to student organisations rather than using the money to provide services themselves.
"Students should be the ones to decide what the money is spent on, not bureaucrats in Canberra or bureaucrats in universities," he said.
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations cautiously welcomed the change but said the fee should be levied for and on behalf of student organisations rather than being controlled by universities.
"Universities will charge a fee and will siphon that revenue off to do with as they see fit if they're not compelled to account for it transparently," president Nigel Palmer said.
University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis praised the policy, which he said the university would move to introduce in semester two next year.
Glenn Withers, chief executive of Universities Australia, which represents 38 of the nation's universities, said it was broadly supportive of the move but expressed disappointment that the Government was not providing any of its own money.
Opposition education spokes man Christopher Pyne said the coalition would examine the proposal closely but would not support "any slide back towards compulsory student unionism".
