Students choose arts degrees in droves despite huge rise in fees under Morrison government

Owen McGee who is in the first year of an arts degree says students can make their own decisions and ‘we’re not going to allow our lives to be dictated’. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian

Owen Magee knew how high his student loan would be if he enrolled in an arts degree – he saw the headlines in 2020, when he was still in early adolescence.

But measures introduced by the former Morrison government that doubled the price of some degrees to incentivise students into other courses didn’t dissuade him, nor did recent cost-of-living increases.