Political barriers through educational opportunity: The unexpected consequences of HECS policy. June 2005.
Date
Authors
Ahmed, Eliza
Braithwaite, Valerie
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Centre for Tax System Integrity (CTSI), Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University
Abstract
This paper is one of a series that has empirically tested the proposition that whilst the
Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) was implemented with the intention of
improving access to university education for all Australians, it has had unexpected and
unwanted consequences for governance more generally, particularly of the tax system.
We use data from the “Graduates’ Hopes, Visions and Actions Survey” based on a
sample of 447 Australian graduates who recently completed their tertiary education.
Findings suggest that while HECS policy appears to have met its objective of enabling
less privileged groups to obtain a university degree, it has also given rise to resistance to
the policy, to paying back the loan and tax evasion. This research demonstrates the
dangers of implementing higher education policy in a way that dissociates the economic
aspects of policy from the social and community attitudes in which it is inevitably
embedded.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Collections
Source
Type
Working/Technical Paper
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
Open Access