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MEDIA RELEASE: CAPA calls for student concession fares in Victorian pre-budget submission

29 Mar 19

CAPA calls for student concession fares in Victorian pre-budget submission

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) is calling for concession public transport fares to be extended to full-time postgraduate students, in a pre-budget submission to the Victorian Government.

Unlike undergraduate students, full-time postgraduate students are unable to access public transport student concession rates. Victoria is the only state which excludes domestic postgraduate students from the student concession scheme.

Full-time postgraduate enrolments in Victoria have more than doubled in the past decade.  These students are less able to engage in paid work than their part-time counterparts, and frequently live in poverty. The cost of paying full fares on public transport is an extra strain on postgraduate students’ finances. A typical 20 – 24 year old domestic postgraduate student, if using public transport five days a week, would spend approximately one tenth of their income on transport fares.

We have previously projected that it would cost the Victorian Government approximately $6 million to extend concession fares to full-time domestic and international postgraduate students. This pales in comparison to the $9.1 billion per year generated by international education in the state of Victoria.

“We applaud the Andrews Government for important changes made to public transport infrastructure in Victoria. We believe it is time to make public transport more affordable for our student population,” says CAPA National President, Natasha Abrahams.

“There is no good reason not to consider full-time postgraduate students as being students for the purposes of the transport concession scheme.”

The full submission can be viewed here.

More information about the Fares Fair PTV campaign can be viewed here.

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For comment:
CAPA National President Natasha Abrahams
M: 0430 076 993
E: president@capa.edu.au