CIS is rash to dismiss impact of debt on fertility

CAPA President Benjamin McKay today rebuffed the finding of a new report released by the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS), that there is no link between student debt and declining fertility.

The CIS paper concludes that "education itself, rather than debt, is the force driving fertility down."

"Is the Centre proposing that we restrict access to higher education for women in order to increase population growth?" asked Mr McKay.

"The CIS paper portrays women with university degrees as wealthy jetsetters who are too picky in their choice of partner to have children." "CAPA respects that the decision to have children is a personal choice."

"However, we also believe that the Government can create an economic environment that is more conducive to having kids by putting the brakes on escalating student debt," Mr McKay commented.

"I accept that there are numerous factors contributing to declining fertility in Australia, but I do not accept that we can eliminate student debt as one of them."

"The CIS report simply confirms CAPA's stance on the need for more quantitative evidence on this topic."

"A more sensible approach would be to restrict further increase in student fees and avoid introducing interest charges for student debt, particularly given the lack of data available on the impact of debt," concluded Mr McKay.