Universities Australia seeks concessions for students

Universities Australia is calling for immediate government action to ease the financial pressure on students, driven by steep increases in the cost of essentials. The peak body's analysis shows student rents have risen by around 40% since 2021, with grocery prices up 27%, utilities up 39%, and fuel up 43%.

Chief executive Luke Sheehy stated students are "doing it tough" and that practical measures are needed. The organisation's primary demand is for every domestic university student to receive a concession card while studying, which would lower costs for medicines, public transport, and utility bills. Currently, eligibility for a Health Care Card is tied to income support, not university enrolment itself.

Call for universal student concession cards

"Giving every domestic university student access to a concession card would help with the everyday costs that keep going up," Sheehy said. He argued the current system creates inequity, where two students in the same lecture paying identical rents and groceries could have different access to financial relief. The push aligns with research from the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success, which found one in three surveyed university students faces financial insecurity.

Equal transport discounts for international students

A second key proposal is for international students to receive the same access to student public transport concessions as domestic students, regardless of their study location. Access to these discounts currently varies across Australian states and territories. Sheehy questioned why an international student should "pay more than the student sitting next to them to catch the same bus or train to university."

He emphasised that international students study in the same classrooms, live in the same communities, and face the same rising costs. "These changes won't solve every cost-of-living pressure students face, but they would make a real difference," Sheehy added. "Opening the door to university is only half the job. Students need to be able to afford to stay once they get there."

Linking affordability to national education goals

The advocacy comes as the government faces broader pressure to improve higher education access while tackling financial barriers to completion. Sheehy framed affordability as essential to Australia's longer-term goals of increasing university participation and developing a skilled workforce.

"For our nation to thrive in the future, we need more university graduates, and we know where much of that growth has to come from," he said. He identified future students from low-income families, regional and remote communities, First Nations Australians, and families with no prior university experience as important to this growth.

"But asking more of those Australians to go to university means making sure they can afford to stay there," Sheehy concluded. "This isn't separate from the equity challenge: it's a big part of the equity challenge."