Commenting on reports that the university sector want the Senate minor parties and independents to cut a deal on Christopher Pyne's higher education reforms (http://bit.ly/1CLpPHr), Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon said:

"Instead of putting pressure on Senators to support the Coalition's regressive and discriminatory changes to higher education, Universities Australia would better off calling on the government to boost public funding to universities.

Australian Greens spokesperson for higher education Senator Lee Rhiannon has called on Education Minister Christopher Pyne to scrap his plans to deregulate the university sector following announcements of huge staff and course cuts at La Trobe University.

"Funding cuts under both Labor and Coalition governments have bled universities dry," Senator Rhiannon said.

"The $65 million cuts announced at La Trobe will see 350 staff fired and the existing five faculties merged into two colleges.

Greens higher education spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon said the Coalition's moves to Americanise higher education will see the Australian university system mimic the worse aspects of the US system.

In the United States total student debt is over $1 trillion dollars (1). Students in the US will graduate with an average debt of $29,000 USD or $31,000 AUD (2).

One million hits on Greens new ‘What will my degree cost?' website while VCs unite against Coalition's reforms

The Greens are calling on Education Minister Christopher Pyne to scrap his plans to cut more than $5 billion out of university funding and increase fees for students following Universities Australia's extraordinary intervention into the debate.

The Greens have launched a website to help the millions of students, graduates, future students and their families understand how the Coalition Government's extreme and regressive changes to higher education are going to impact them.

The website ‘What will my degree cost?' gives every individual the chance to estimate the direct financial impact of these changes by adjusting variables such as what course they study, their total student debt and their starting salary.

The Australian Greens spokesperson for higher education Senator Lee Rhiannon has accused Education Minister Christopher Pyne for not being across key details of his radical and regressive reforms to the higher education sector.

"On the ABC's Insiders this morning Mr Pyne claimed that the new student debt arrangements, that will see students pay a real interest rate of up to 6 per cent on their debt, will only impact students enrolling from this year," Senator Rhiannon said.

Australian Greens spokesperson for higher education Senator Rhiannon has commended the sustained community campaign to expose Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne's higher education deception.

"Mr Pyne and Mr Abbott are regularly contradicting themselves in radio interviews. We now know that Mr Abbott won't rule out that university fees will double while Mr Pyne can't decide if fees are going to go up or down," said Senator Rhiannon.

Responding to reports that the Abbott government will force universities to compete with private colleges through fee deregulation, Australian Greens higher education spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon said:

"Fee deregulation is code for increasing student fees. Minister Pyne should prepare himself for more student protests over his fee deregulation policy, and such actions are now urgently needed.

More than $78 million will be ripped out of South Australian universities in the next four years if the Coalition's cuts to higher education go ahead, say Australian Greens Senators for South Australia Penny Wright and Sarah Hanson Young.

The party this week launched a national campaign lobbying selected Labor MPs for their support in blocking the Coalition's plan to rip $2.3 billion out of the higher education budget.

MEDIA RELEASE
26 November 2013

Greens release modelling and launch campaign to stop Abbott slashing university funding

The Australian Greens today launched their new campaign to block the Coalition’s bills to rip $2.3 billion out of the higher education budget.

The bills to amend the Higher Education Support Act and Social Services Act are expected to be debated in parliament next week. If Labor votes with the Greens in the Senate against these cuts they will not become law.