THE Australian Government plan to tighten the rules on payments of tertiary fees by students born overseas will hit an estimated 12 per cent of Hong Kong-born students.
While the Government justified its plan to use citizenship status to determine who paid as benefiting those who showed a long-term commitment to Australia, a new Monash University study said that - among other factors - it was evidence that well-off Hong Kong students were receiving study subsidies and then leaving without paying their fees that prompted the move.
The changes, to come into effect on January 1, will mean the fees known as HECS (Higher Education Contribution Scheme) which all students can defer until they graduate, will not be deferrable by those who have been permanent residents in Australia for more than three years but have not become citizens.
They must pay HECS, A$2,409 (HK$14,000) last year, up-front - and the 25 per cent discount for advance payment will not be offered to them.
The Government will also tighten the rules for Austudy, the means-tested grant scheme.
The Monash study, reported in the journal People and Place, says the measures, announced in May, were in part prompted by a journal report last year which showed nearly 36 per cent of those in the eligible age group at private secondary schools were receiving Austudy.