Not everyone has Facebook, and not everyone follows the news either. And for those who do follow the news, this topic can be easily missed because it's only briefly mentioned - not front page material.
This topic I am talking about is an idea called 'DebtSwap' - created through the thinkings of my friend's Sydney University society called 180 Degrees. It made it into the news because the idea has been accepted for discussion during the 2020 Summit.
Because I'm not a Sydney University student, meaning I don't speak verbose, I am going to put this as layman as possible...
The basis of DebtSwap is a student does community service and in return gets their HECs reduced. Regulations and rules around this idea haven't been 'founded' yet, so don't ask what they are because there are none.
However, 180 Degrees are now opening the floor for suggestions on how to approach DebtSwap that will be beneficial for Australian university students. As a good friend with one of the Directors, I'm posting this idea in ANTIFUCK to allow non-facebook users to discuss and give suggestions.
There has been already criticism and debates occurring in regards to DebtSwap, such as an article in the Australian suggesting that it will only be beneficial towards rich students.
Now here's a little excerpt my friend wrote that might help narrow down some questions:
Now, in the spirit of the 2020 summit we want to open the floor to you, our members and prospective beneficiaries of this scheme to make sure that our proposals capture the best interests of all stakeholders:
- is HECS the most appropriate mechanism or are other means preferable, especially in helping low-income students? is it preferable to have a range of options for students so they can choose what best suits their circumstances.
- what sort of areas would students be most capable and interested in working in?
- what sort of accountability and administrative measures are required? how do we balance
- how should it be funded - government, business or a hybrid model
- what lessons can be learned from similar proposals in other countries?
feel free to post here or email debtswap.180degrees@gmail.com
Excuse the verbosity, it's a USyd thing. What do you think?
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6 comments:
i got into a conversation with an exchange student (i think she was south american)...and apparently they have to pay before even getting here ie DFE
what i dont get is, that if a product becomes commodified ie: university degrees, it should become cheaper anyway.
glad to see debtswap has moved from the papers onto the cyberworld. 180 degrees is looking to get as much feedback from interested students as possible so we can advocate your needs and interests when talking with the government. already on the facebook discussion board (group: 180 degrees) we've had some excellent suggestions such as concessions or discounts to fees or books. also the issue of international students has been raised so we'd like to hear more from international students to gague their interest in the scheme. if you don't have facebook, post here or email debtswap.180degrees
on a more minor point, debtswap was mentioned on the front page of the SMH on 21/4/08. Check our facebook group for links to articles from the australian and the AFR as well as a radio interview on the ABC
hope this wasn't too verbose alice!
Anshu (Director - 180 Degrees)
Hmm well alice we did speak about this before you blog'ed it so you know my view on this.
But for others i would like to tell you that i am an extream spectic. Even if this is implanmented there is so much room for error. Hmm i think im looking into the perspective of equity over equality in forms of debt repayment and access to such facilitie.
Well yes, Alice asked me for thoughts..
Anyway, I noticed in one of the articles that it talks about how it would favour income higher background students over lower income background students because higher income background students dont need as large a cash flow to support them.
Well, this is the idea: basically, some of the "subsidy" becomes actual money.
A simple example:
I have a $40 debt. For each hour I volunteer, I get $10 off my debt and get paid $5 to my bank account in *real money*.
This takes $20 from your debt: 40 - 10 - 5x2 (5x2 because paying me $5 is like getting from -5 (my debt) to +5 (what I get paid).. that was explained badly so you'll need to think about it..)
My debt is now $20 total. Then I do another hour and my debt is $0.
This system could be two-tiered. eg. one for self-supported, one for people who do have financial support.
An example for that system:
Person A is self-supported.
He has a $120 debt. When he works, he gets $20 off his debt and $10 in cash. Each hour he works, $40 comes off his debt. To pay his debt he volunteers for 3 hours.
Person B has financial support. He too has a $120 debt. Each time Person B works, he gets $30 off his debt and thats it. So, for the sake of repeating myself, each hour his debt is reducing by $30. To pay his debt he volunteers for 4 hours.
The thing about this system is, even though Person A seems to have the advantage in terms of income and time, the total amount they will recieve is the same (ie. they both can get the equivalent of $120).
The last possiblity is like simply a system like Person A in the above example, but without any socioeconomic "grading".
Also, the numbers are purely arbitrary & are for example.
My brain is pretty fried as I write this.. so I have the sneaking suspicion there is some terrible error in my logic... hm.
Yes, I knew I made a mistake, my logic was horribly horribly flawed... >_>
so ignore the previous one while I copy and paste while correcting my needlessly complicated idea... *sigh*
It should be:
...
A simple example:
I have a $40 debt. For each hour I volunteer, I get $10 off my debt and get paid $10 to my bank account in *real money*.
This takes $20 from my debt, so I have a debt of $20 left. Then I do another hour and my debt is $0.
This system could be two-tiered. eg. one for self-supported, one for people who do have financial support.
An example for that system:
Person A is self-supported.
He has a $120 debt. When he works, he gets $20 off his debt and $10 in cash. Each hour he works, he "takes out" $30 from the total amount he can work off (ie. 120). So, after 4 hours of work, Person A will have a debt of $40 remaining ($120-4x$20=$40), and will have $40 in pocket.
Person B has financial support. He too has a $120 debt. Each time Person B works, he gets $30 off his debt and thats it. After 4 hours he has $0 in pocket, but his debt is also $0.
The thing about this system is the total amount they will recieve is the same (ie. they both can get the equivalent of $120).
The last possiblity is like simply a system like Person A in the above example, but without any socioeconomic "grading".
Also, the numbers are purely arbitrary & are for example.
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Thank you very much for everyone's comments. Anshu and I really appreciate it! Please keep up!
I'd also like to make a mention on behalf of my friend Jing, an International student. She's not very English savvy which is why I'm typing out her responses.
Jing things this is a very good program and definitely something she would do. She is basically happy with any discount, because it would help in the long run.
A suggestion, related to Mina's point, was a possibility of eliminating that first payment before getting DFE.
It's probably a 'tough chance' idea, but helping decrease some of the upfront International Student payments is better than nothing.
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