Senate rejected Faruqi's plan to undo degree fee rises
In 2020 the Job-Ready Graduates changes made some degrees much more expensive for students. A Greens senator brought a bill to undo those fee rises. The Senate, Parliament's second house, voted it down in July 2026.
Official name: Higher Education Support Amendment (Reverse Job-Ready Graduates Fee Hikes and End 50k Arts Degrees) Bill 2025
- The bill would have lowered the most students pay for subjects in law, business, economics, communications, and society and culture.
- Those fees would have gone back to what they would be in 2026 if the 2020 Job-Ready Graduates changes had never happened.
- Senator Mehreen Faruqi brought it in November 2025.
- The Senate voted it down on 1 July 2026, so it will not become law.
Who it affects
- Students in arts, humanities (subjects like history and philosophy) and communications: The most they pay for a year of subjects would have dropped to $8,164.
- Students in law, accounting, economics, commerce (the study of business and trade) and running a business: The most they pay for a year of subjects would have been set at $13,624.
- Students already partway through a degree: The lower fees would have applied to their later subjects too.
Arts degrees costing $50,000
Most Australian university students pay part of the cost of their degree. This part is called the student contribution.
Many students borrow it through a government loan. They pay it back later through the tax system once they earn enough.
The law sets the most a university can charge a student for each area of study. Those limits sit in a table in the Higher Education Support Act 2003.
In 2020 Parliament passed the Job-Ready Graduates changes. They raised the student fee for some subjects, including humanities, law and business. They lowered it for others.
Senator Faruqi's notes on the bill say this left some arts degrees costing about $50,000. They say students, teachers and universities have called for the fee rises to be undone.
Who brought the bill
This was a private bill. That means it did not come from the government.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi brought it into the Senate, Parliament's second house, on 25 November 2025.
Cheaper law, business and arts
The bill would have swapped the fee table in the Act for a new one. The new limits would have been what students would pay on 1 January 2026 if the 2020 changes had never happened.
These limits are for a full year of study in each area. For law, accounting, running a business, economics and commerce, the limit would have been $13,624.
For communications and for society and culture, it would have been $8,164. Society and culture covers many arts and humanities subjects. That is why the bill's name talks about ending $50,000 arts degrees.
The senator used the Department of Education's 2026 guide to work out the numbers. Each amount includes the normal rise each year to keep up with prices.
New fees for other subjects
The new table also listed fee limits for every other area of study.
Teaching, clinical psychology, English, maths, statistics, nursing, languages and farming were limited to $4,738.
Some areas were limited to $9,537. These were other health jobs, building design, computing, engineering, land surveying, environment studies, science, and the study of disease.
Medicine, dentistry and animal medicine were limited to $13,558.
Art, music, drama, and psychology and social work done as a career were limited to $9,537 for most students. Some students under older rules would have paid $8,164 in those areas.
The senator's notes say the bill was aimed at the areas the 2020 changes made more expensive. They do not say if any of these other limits were different from the 2026 rates.
Who it would have covered
The new limits would have applied to any subject with a census date on or after the bill became law. A census date is the last day you can drop a subject without being charged for it.
This would have covered students who started their degree years earlier. Say you began a commerce degree in 2024. Your subjects after the change would have been charged at the lower rate.
Planned start
The bill would have started on 1 January 2026, or the day after it was signed into law, whichever came later.
Bills are signed into law by the Governor-General, who stands in for the King.
Voted down in the Senate
Senator Faruqi brought in the bill on 25 November 2025. She spoke on its main idea that day.
The Senate debated it on 1 July 2026. The same day, the Senate voted against the main idea of the bill. That means the bill was defeated. It will not become law.
How they voted
| Vote | Result |
|---|---|
| Vote on the main idea Senate, 1 July 2026 Labor 20 no, Greens 10 aye, Liberal 6 no, One Nation 4 no, Independent 1 aye | Noes won 30 to 11 |
Its journey through Parliament
| 25 Nov 2025 | Senate: Introduced and read a first time |
| 25 Nov 2025 | Senate: Second reading moved |
| 01 Jul 2026 | Senate: Second reading debate |
| 01 Jul 2026 | Senate: Second reading negatived |