A Tasmanian Labor government will provide scholarships to enable an additional 500 Tasmanians to go to university each year.
The University of Tasmania has found there are more than 1,000 students each year who apply for a course, are offered a place, but then cancel their enrolments because they don’t have the financial means to support their study.
This is a tragedy for the students involved – it’s also a terrible outcome for Tasmania’s economy.
Supporting 500 additional students to complete a university degree, every year, will make a significant difference in a place the size of Tasmania.
It will unlock a massive reserve of unrealised potential, help to meet the labour force challenges Tasmania faces in both the private and public sector, and will lead to a step-change in educational attainment, particularly in the regional areas where many of these students are from.
Labor will support these students with a $5,000 annual scholarship to assist with living costs like rent, transport and study materials.
The scholarships will be provided to students most in need, and will be delivered through UTAS’s existing scholarships administration. This will provide these students with additional support from UTAS as they progress through their course to graduation.
As the University itself has said in its submission to the Accord process:
“There are well over 1,000 people in Tasmania every year who while qualified to participate in higher education, are not able to do so for financial reasons. That is a loss of human capability the State can ill afford, and a lost opportunity for each one of those people. Critically, we are missing the opportunity to activate the most powerful force we have to reduce inequality.”
The policy will cost $2.5m per year for each cohort* – a small investment to change Tasmania’s economic potential for years to come.
Labor is ambitious for Tasmania, and serious about bringing forward new ideas that will spread opportunity, support aspiration, and help deliver a strong economic future for us all.
Rebecca White MP
Tasmanian Labor Leader
Josh Willie MLC
Shadow Minister for Education and Early Years
Shadow Minister for TAFE, University & Skills & Training
