Mother of seven Marianne McKay juggles a toddler in one arm and her law books in the other.
The Noongar woman wouldn’t have it any other way.
The law student is in the third year of her degree and has been studying at Murdoch University after transferring from her studies at the University of Western Australia.
“I really want to understand the system so I can change it,” McKay says.
“I’ve seen a lot of our people persecuted by what we call the injustice system – you know, it’s not the justice system for our mob.”
It hasn’t been easy. McKay is a full-time student, a sole parent of seven children, and cares for her ageing mother. On top of all that, she had a stroke in 2021 during the pandemic.
She failed one of her courses and decided to withdraw from others before the required census date so that she wouldn’t have to pay fees, and to avoid having the withdrawal recorded on her academic record.
Only later was she told by the university she could have applied for compassionate exemption.
“It was really frustrating they never told me, not even the professor at the law school, especially since I was pretty open about the family and life struggles I was dealing with at the time.”
There are growing concerns that a suite of changes to higher education introduced by the former Coalition government, which effectively toughened penalties for failing courses and raised fees, may be making studying harder for Indigenous students like McKay, who already face significant barriers. The sector is now calling on the Labor government to reconsider the changes.
The Job Ready Graduates changes introduced in 2020 led to the cost of a year of full-time study in a humanities degree such as arts and social sciences rising from $6,804 to $14,500, while student’s studying law like McKay as well as commerce degrees now pay more from $11,355 to $14,500.
For McKay, the massive costs are not a deterrent as she believes the benefits of her degree will outweigh the costs.
“The law degree isn’t about money for me. If I get to that payment threshold, well then, that’s a bonus you know? I don’t mind having to pay that back, anyway.”
But she said finding the money for daily costs such as books, fees and materials that need to be paid upfront can be struggle.
“My books throughout the year would probably cost up to about $1,000 to $1,500. It’s really hard, so usually I will have to get money off of Mum or Dad or my family, or I’ll have to try and buy books when I’ve got a lump sum payment,” McKay said.
New rules also dictate that if a student fails more than 50% of their courses after eight or more units of study of the degree, they will lose their commonwealth-supported placement.
Marginalised students face greater barriers during their studies, according to Macquarie University’s Indigenous pro-vice-chancellor, Dr Leanne Holt.
“I think that those laws are detrimental to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ enrolments and success,” the Worimi and Biripi woman says.
“Some of our students for various reasons fail or become at risk because of balancing family and community responsibilities, transitioning from regional and remote areas and financial challenges,” Holt says.
Many students, she says, struggled in their first year, but then went on to successfully complete their degrees.
She says the legislation was flawed from the beginning and contradicted the government’s own new Closing the Gap target of 70% of First Nations people aged 25 to 34 having a tertiary qualification by 2031.
“It’s crazy because the legislation completely contradicts the priorities that the government set for Indigenous students, it’s just another barrier,” she says.
Indigenous studies lecturer Tristan Kennedy dropped out of University in South Australia, working for a few years before returning to his studies.
He says many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have a less linear path to university, either working or training before their studies.
“We have quite high numbers of mature entry and alternative pathway students that haven’t come directly from school – they’ve worked or been involved in their communities,” Kennedy says.
He says the rules could have flow-on effects for students wanting to work and study to benefit their communities.
“If students drop out or fail to complete their degrees because of lack of financial support – we’re going to have fewer teachers, fewer nurses with specific Indigenous knowledges to benefit our communities,” Kennedy says.
Guardian Australia contacted all Group of Eight universities to obtain data on the potential impact of the changes but due to privacy concerns or lack of data, none was available.
Edith Cowan University in Perth says while they won’t know the full impact until the end of the year, Indigenous students are at higher risk of failing a course for a number of reasons.
“Students who fail one or more units are already at higher risk of not continuing with their studies. But for historically excluded cohorts, we risk sending the wrong message by withdrawing commonwealth support at the first signs of failure.
Higher education’s peak body, Universities Australia CEO Catriona Jackson, says the sector has serious concerns.
“Universities have been concerned from the outset that this rule would hit disadvantaged Australians the hardest,” Jackson says.
The industry is pushing for a review into the changes, which were supported by Labor in 2020, she said.
“We have raised our concerns with education minister, Jason Clare, and we will continue these conversations as part of a broader push for reducing barriers to education.”
But Marianne McKay says students of all backgrounds can succeed if they are supported through their challenges by universities and the community.
“Through my family support and through having those supportive lecturers at uni, I ended up getting a distinction on my evidence exam,” she says.
“It just goes to show that with the right supports in place, people can actually achieve.”
