The Universities Need to Pay for International Student Scam By James Reed

Economist, Leith van Onselen has been doing excellent critical work on the intersection of the Australian rental crisis and the massive influx of migrants, and the overwhelming number of foreign students who now dominate the Australian university system. Overseas migration has halved Australia’s rentals, and foreign students are major players here. And the universities have been reaping the profits, while ordinary Aussies face homelessness. Universities do not pay tax, but are operating as corporate entities. Hence tax them on each international cash cow student they milk. This would certainly cause the universities to be less eager in recruit of foreigners over locals. Personally, I advocate closing the places down, with a radical reform of higher education.

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2023/10/force-universities-to-provide-international-student-accommodation/?fbclid=IwAR3o2-RgMG3o7tJDkYs1V_ueDn0wnrc6yVf6uAKj6kmPtVscci-TCrgL8wU

“Australia’s record net overseas migration boom has been driven by international students … This surge in net overseas migration has roughly halved Australia’s rental listings, according to CoreLogic: It has also driven the capital city rental vacancy rate to a record low 1.0%.

In turn, many Australian tenants have been driven into financial stress, forced to live in share housing, or pushed into homelessness.

By contrast, Australia’s universities are making out like bandits enjoying record fees from international students.

It is a classic case of the universities privatising the gains from record immigration while the costs are pushed onto Australians at large, most notably renters.

One way to solve the issue and align the interests of universities with Australian tenants is to make the universities responsible for housing their international students.

For example, the government could require that universities supply on-campus accommodation for at least 50% of their international student enrolments.

So, if universities wish to grow their international student base, then they would need to build more on-campus accommodation.

Not only would such a policy effectively place a cap on international student numbers (and therefore net overseas migration), but it would also directly relieve pressures on the private rental market: a win-win scenario.

The universities, rather than taxpayers, are also ‘clipping the ticket’ and collecting the economic rents from Australia’s immigration system via student fees.

Australian universities are non-profit organisations and currently do not pay tax (unlike other ‘export’ industries). This is despite universities acting like corporatised, profit-maximising businesses.

The federal government should, therefore, levy universities for each international student that enrolls.

Doing so would ensure that Australians receive a financial cut from the international student trade, similar to how a sovereign wealth fund collects revenue from mineral exports.

Ultimately, the whole international education system needs to be reformed to ensure that the costs and benefits to universities and Australians are aligned.

Making universities provide on-campus accommodation in proportion to the number of international students enrolled, alongside levying a charge per international students, are obvious policy solutions.”