Australian arts degree costs have hit $50,000.

A significant increase has put Australian university fees in line with those in the UK and US, following the controversial implementation of the Jobs Ready Graduates (JRG) scheme five years ago.

Recent data from the Department of Education has revealed that from 2025, student contributions for degrees in areas such as society and culture, communications, law, and economics will rise to $16,992 annually. 

This increase, driven by indexation, is $650 more than last year and more than $10,000 higher than humanities course fees in 2020, before the JRG policy was introduced.

The JRG scheme, introduced by the Morrison government, decreased the government's contribution to degrees from 58 per cent to 52 per cent, while raising student contributions to 48 per cent. 

The policy also increased fees for some courses, including humanities, to subsidise fee reductions in other areas and fund 39,000 additional university places by 2023. 

This policy has faced widespread criticism from the university sector, including the Group of Eight (Go8), Universities Australia, student bodies, and academics. 

The University Accord interim report described the scheme as a failure, recommending urgent redesign to prevent long-term damage to Australian higher education.

More analysis is accessible here.