Call for cash lures to cut uni dropout rate

REGIONAL school leavers would be paid $5000 cash to relocate to study at university, while taxpayers would shout their parents a ticket to visit them.

The recommendations are part of the long-awaited Napthine review into getting more regional and rural students into higher education.

Under the proposal all school leavers from outer regional and remote areas would qualify for the cash payment, as long as their course was at least a year long and their university was at least 90 minutes by public transport from their home.

Their parents would also be able to claim one trip courtesy of taxpayers to visit them in their first year.

They would be able to claim the “cost of the least expensive and most available form of public transport” to do so.

It is part of a bid to tackle the higher dropout rate of university students from regional areas.

There is almost a 20 per cent dropout rate for students from remote areas compared to just 13 per cent for those from major cities, according to the report.

The report’s author, Denis Napthine, wrote that studies had found relocating for study could cost up to double the price of the degree – up to $30,000 a year.

“The costs of relocating means (regional, rural and remote) students are more likely to delay entering university,” he wrote.

“The added financial stress of relocating can also contribute to (regional, rural and remote) students considering an early departure from their tertiary studies.”

The Napthine review, commissioned by the Morrison Government, recommended a 10-year strategy for improving access to tertiary study options for students in regional areas as well as providing great financial support and improving the range of support services.

Education Minister Dan Tehan said he accepted the aims of the report’s recommendations but would be consulting on the specifics and responding at a later date.

“We can’t accept a situation where young Australians living in our major cities are twice as likely to have a university degree compared to young Australians living in our regional areas,” he said.