News.com.au
Pheobe Ho came out of university with an eye-watering HECS debt of $99,000 and was stretched to breaking point – despite studying to work in an area that is critically short staffed as a mental health crisis rages across Australia.
She was lucky to even get a spot in a post graduate masters in clinical psychology at a university in WA, explaining many unis only offer six to 12 positions per year on average across the country.
A lack of government funding means university places are very limited – with thousands of students missing out each year – exacerbating the clinical psychologist shortage.
The Australian Psychological Society has been sounding alarm bells on the government’s failure to fund university placements, a problem that has been bubbling away for a number of years.
Last year, federal and state governments agreed that Australia is meeting just 35 per cent of its psychology workforce target – exposing the dire need – yet nothing has been done to address this issue, said Australian Psychological Society president Dr Catriona Davis-McCabe.
“Every year we have several thousand would-be psychologists that are unable to complete their degree due to a lack of public funding for additional university places,” she said.
“That the federal government would choose to continue with this situation in their May budget instead of giving Australians the number of psychologists they themselves have said is needed beggars belief.
“We regularly hear from desperate psychology students unsure of what to do with their lives having been unable to enrol in their final two years of study due to the shortage of places.”
Despite claims by the government it is investing $55.8 million into universities to create additional postgraduate psychology places, only one Commonwealth supported place per institution is required each year.
Yet, the psychology workforce currently sits at approximately 40,000, with the investment doing little to boost the workforce to its need of 115,000 psychologists.
Ms Ho was lumped with a huge debt of $64,000 to complete the post graduate study when a Commonwealth supported place would have made a dramatic difference costing just $8800.
She described the course as “seriously challenging” and much harder than working full time.
They were required to complete a minimum of 1000 unpaid placement work hours over the two years while juggling course work, writing a research thesis and trying to keep themselves afloat financially.
“The external prac unit alone cost us $14,000 in HECS. At one point in time, I remembered working 30 hours a week on top of full time study to ensure I could pay for daily necessities when I undertook my clinical training,” she told news.com.au.
“The number of hours we did were incredibly challenging. There was one student in my cohort who was working 4am to 1pm before coming into the clinic to see clients, on top of doing lectures, study and exams.
“Many of us got little sleep, and we were pushed beyond our limits”.
The clinical psychologist is concerned by what she sees happening in the industry, particularly as the sector is critically short-staffed.
She said while the job is incredibly rewarding, clinical psychologists are “stretched thin trying our best to service the escalating mental health needs in Australia”.
“It is difficult to do our jobs as psychologists when many are also experiencing high levels of burnout and stress,” she added.
News.com.au understands that more than 100 postgraduate psychology courses have shut in the last 10 years due to a lack of university funding from the federal government.
This represents more than half of all postgraduate psychology courses in Australia over this period.
‘Huddled in wealthy inner suburbs’
For students lucky enough to enrol into postgraduate study, the cost of completing study is immense, Dr Davis-McCabe, the Australian Psychological Society president, added.
“Many must go through hundreds, sometimes more than 1000 hours of unpaid placement. How can students be expected to live let alone complete their degree under such financial strain?” she asked.
“Current government policy means the future psychology workforce will be smaller, less diverse and huddled in wealthy inner-city suburbs away from people that need these services the most.”
She has called for HECS debt forgiveness and higher regional Medicare rebates to ensure more psychologists are working in communities that need them most.
Ms Ho agrees that postgraduate psychology has become so competitive and expensive that it has become “increasingly inaccessible and inequitable to become a psychologist, with a huge financial cost as well as a cost to mental health and wellbeing”.
She is joining the growing chorus of voices calling for more government supported places for postgraduate psychology as some of her fellow colleagues came out with HECS debts of $120,000 and $130,000.
“Ensuring that all postgraduate psychology positions are Commonwealth supported would help reduce the ongoing financial burden of astronomical HECS debts. It impacts things like buying a house, as your borrowing capacity is drastically reduced due to HECS,” she said.
“Amidst the cost of living crisis and professional fees in the thousands on top of that, it is hard to foot the bill in the current economy.”
Ethan Luxton is another Western Australian university student who has racked up $101,000 in HECS debt to train as a clinical psychologist.
“It’s going to impact my borrowing capacity if I try and buy a house, it’s going to be more than an entire decade of significantly reduced income in terms of money in the pocket as that is getting taken out for many years for my HECS debt,” he said.
“I don’t regret it but I think it would be good if that could be brought it down a bit and there were more Commonwealth supported places as the difference is fees is astronomical.”
When he was looking to do his postgraduate study, he applied to 21 universities around Australia.
He actually got a Commonwealth supported position in Melbourne but had to turn it down as it would have placed him under financial pressure without the option to live at home rent-free.
The clinical psychologist registrar said he is “frustrated” at the lack of action to boost the critical workforce.
“With psychology you can’t throw money at it and one year later you have doubled the workforce because of stringent registration requirements and there is a minimum six years to become a registered psychologist,” he said.
“So that kind of thing that needs change now so we have benefits in several years.”
‘Derail my dreams’
Psychology student Tina Psaltis launched a petition pleading with the government to save the future of psychology in Australia.
The 24-year-old said hundreds of Australian students are being turned away from postgraduate psychology courses each year despite the overwhelming demand for psychologists.
The University of Technology, Sydney student is in her fourth year and is “very worried” about whether she will be able to complete postgraduate psychology study with severely limited Commonwealth supported places at universities.
“I definitely think it could derail my dreams,” she told news.com.au.
She said there was a clear lack of government support at a time when one in three psychologists had to close their books to new clients after the pandemic.
“The consequence of this chronic underfunding of postgraduate psychology is that undergraduate students are forced to compete for the exceedingly limited places available in such courses, which often only offer a handful of places, in order to gain registration as a psychologist,” she said.
“These are the very courses that are needed to boost the number of practitioners in the field.
Much like medicine, psychology masters’ degrees are expensive to facilitate, due to low student-to-staff ratios and high supervision and placement costs.”
To add to that, Ms Psaltis already has a HECS debt of almost $50,000.
“I know HECS is normal but it’s scary to think I haven’t even finished all of my studies and that I’m already that deep into debt,” she added.
Postgraduate psychology training is currently funded at a lower band than other health professions, with the Commonwealth contributing $13,000 per student, compared to more than $27,000 for degrees such as vet science and agriculture, she noted.
The decision to leave psychology students and university placements unfunded and underfunded also goes against the governments Women’s Economic Taskforce as 80 per cent of psychs are women.
‘Incentivising universities’
A Department of Education spokesperson said the Australian government recognises there are barriers to study in mental health, including in the field of psychology, and the associated impact this has on workforce availability and service delivery.
“The government is investing $91.3 million to immediately address acute bottlenecks in the psychology training pipeline as announced in the 2023-24 Budget,” they said.
“This includes incentivising universities to create 500 additional postgraduate psychology places, including a mandatory requirement to create new Commonwealth supported places.”
When news.com.au pressed the government on how the incentives for universities would work, a Department of Health and Aged Care spokesperson said the Australian government is making available $55.8 million for higher education providers who have created additional postgraduate psychology places.
“To be eligible for funding, higher education providers must create at least one new Commonwealth supported place (CSP) each year and demonstrate an 8.7 per cent yearly minimum growth rate in student enrolments across relevant postgraduate psychology courses,” they explained.
“Funding will be delivered across four years from 2023-24, with a separate grant round run each year. All eligible higher education providers will be required to submit a new application demonstrating additional CSPs and relevant growth rate to receive funding from each individual grant round.”
Dr Davis-McCabe said while any investment in the domestic psychology workforce is welcomed, the $91 million allocated in the 23/24 budget is only a small step in the right direction.
“When the federal government is meeting just 35 per cent of its own psychology workforce target, 500 additional postgrad places barely moves the needle on Australia’s 70,000 psychologist shortfall.,” she said.
“Thousands of would-be psychologists are unable to enter the workforce due to a lack of public funding at universities. Increasing investment in more university place will see an immediate boost to community psychology services.”
Psychology students and taxpayers deserve to know how any university placement funding is used to ensure transparency and efficient use of taxpayer money, she added.