Re: Aussie vrs. American college education financing

From: Alejandro Dubrovsky (s328940@student.uq.edu.au)
Date: Thu Aug 09 2001 - 06:02:22 MDT


* dwayne <dwayne@morphine.neuron.net> [010809 21:44]:
> [ Charset ISO-8859-1 unsupported, converting... ]
> > John Grigg wrote:
> > > The aussie gal I used to know told me she went through a
> > > college system where only the better highschool students get
> > > to attend college(she was one). And you paid back the cost
> > > of your education by paying a flat percentage of one's future
> > > salary.
> >
> > That's my experience, too. The paying back bit is not so good :-)
> >
> > Emlyn
> > (still under the HECS - Higher Education Contribution Scheme)
>
> Oh hell, I will reply.
>
> The better schools go to Uni because the students do better in the year 12 exams, there
> is no restriction, it is based on merit, but of course the "good" schools give their
> students a better education, so they are over-represented at unis.
>
this depends on which state you are from. in Queensland, the high school you
attend has a huge influence on wether you get to attend uni or not since your
final score is based on a combination of how you did compared to the rest of your
class and how that class did compared with the rest of the classes in the
state. there is no individual competition among every member in the state, so
even if you top your class by a megaparsec, if your class average at a
standardised skills test is low compared to other classes, you are going to end
up with a mediocre score. This is all relatively new since it started in 1992.

> As for paying off your education, it is apercentage of your salary, you pay it if you
> earn more thana certain threshold, and you pay back the debt, not a flat rate on your
> salary for life.
>
i don't think he was implying you had to pay for life.

[later, you say]
> But I do think someone was pulling your leg.

i don't see how what you wrote contradicts what he got told in any way.
Alejandro Dubrovsky



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