Fascinated by the concept of a self-interest degree, I would like to explore that idea further. I wouldn't have thought there were a huge number of hobbyists in uni, are you referring to the content of the courses or the motivations of the student? Does it come down to life stage? I'm nearing the end of my degree & I'm sure some ppl would think I'm over the hill at age 40. But it appears that I still have 30 years of working life ahead of me (thanks, boomers!) and that's more years than I've worked already. Thoughts?
Clearly I wasn't being eloquent enough for you to understand my point and you only quoted part of my post which has taken it out of context. Do you really believe that I think that way? That I would think you're not worthy or valid of further education or career prospects? I'm trying to think of possible issues and discussion points that are going to make it harder and things that the Govt may perceive as problem areas that need *fixing*

When I said this
I'm all for learning for the love of learning and furthering education, but it's those 'just for fun' degrees that are only done for self-interest as opposed to being career driven that complicate the situation by using up available funds.
I refer to the issue of HECS/Commonwealth supported places as a whole. The Govt isn't sitting back and looking at individuals and what they are studying and why. They are sitting there looking at their bottom line and where they can cut spending. If they perceive that the amount of funds being used by HECS/CSPs is too high, then they are going to do what they can to cut it back. What if they decide that each uni can only have a set number of HECs/CSPs for any given degree? who determines who gets the CSP and who has to pay full-fee? How do they determine who gets the place? Does the 20 year old doing a degree for their profession get the place or does the person studying for self-interest get the place? Is it on campus or off-campus students? This is where we are at. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with either view and I certainly don't think it's fair no matter which way you look at it, but it's looking pretty likely that we will get to the point where there are a finite number of places where people can access HECS or get a CSP. And that's where it's going to be likely that they will look at who is doing a degree for their career and who is doing it for self-interest.

Cass, but funds I don't mean direct uni funds, but govt funds available for HECs and CSPs.