The costs associated with studying psychology often deter students from continuing with their studies. At a time when Australia needs more psychologists than ever before, the APS wants to see this issue addressed urgently.
Article summary:
- Many psychology students are deterred from entering the psychology profession due to high HECS debts.
- Beyond the financial impacts, some students are also facing wellbeing issues as they try and keep up with their required practical work while also working to support themselves.
- More Commonwealth supported postgraduate psychology positions are needed.
- Psychologists should be eligible for the $319 Commonwealth Prac Payments.
Many psychology students describe their postgraduate studies as being more difficult than working full-time. For those who have the financial means to work hundreds of unpaid placement hours without also having to work a job on the side, it's still challenging – and sometimes a shock – to finish years of study and be lumped with an eye-watering amount of student debt.
However, when people want to undertake the necessary training to become a registered psychologist, but they don't have the financial means to do so, it results in a concept called 'placement poverty'.
"What's extraordinarily challenging in postgraduate psychology programs is that full-time study is often five days a week," says Dr Erika Penney, Senior Lecturer at UTS and Clinical Division Chair of the NSW-ACT Psychology Placement Consortium.
"There's a packed schedule of classes, workshops, take-home assessments and work-integrated placements in order for graduates to competently work in the community."
While the level of detail and rigour is important to support the development of a competent future workforce, Dr Penney says students often express stress and frustration regarding the financial burden incurred.
"[It often] prevents them from working alongside their studies and earning what they need to live, which can add considerable pressure to an already demanding academic schedule."
Pheobe's story
While many professions' placements are observational, and therefore, in some instances, easier to fit around a work, study and social schedule, Dr Penney notes that postgraduate psychology students are required to take on independent caseloads (under supervision).
While this offers great learning opportunities and important exposure, it can also be extremely emotionally, physically and financially depleting.
Someone who knows this well is recent graduate and clinical psychologist Pheobe Ho.
Once she had completed her clinical training, she accrued a $89,000 HECS-HELP debt that, through indexation, then rose to $99,000.
"Many colleagues have accrued much more than that – HECS debts in the range of $120,000-$130,000.
"I was really lucky and privileged to have received some Centrelink payments back then, but now you've also got to factor in the cost of living and skyrocketing mortgage and interest rates. That same amount [of Centrelink support] would be absolutely impossible to live on today."
Australia is facing a mental health crisis, says Ho, so now is the time to dial up investment in the future workforce.
"Our APS President [Dr Catriona Davis-McCabe] has previously said that the current psychology workforce is only at 35% of its target workforce capacity… that's a huge issue."
The widespread impacts of placement poverty
In conjunction with her demanding study and placement schedule, Ho had to work a 30-hour work week at one point in time to pay the rent and general life expenses during her studies.
"When we think about the demand of studying psychology, you've got your coursework, thesis, practicum, and on top of that you most likely have to work in a separate job to pay for rent, bills, food, just so you can make ends meet. It can be extremely challenging."
But the impacts of placement poverty extend beyond financial challenges, says Ho.
"If you're training to be a psychologist and also having to work long hours just to make ends meet, that's going to have significant impacts on your mental health and wellbeing.
"Many were in the clinic really early in the morning and stayed really late to get client notes prepped, course work done, catching up on lectures, working away on our thesis. The demands were significant."
This impacts on sleep, which Ho says was a concerning trend among her cohort. She refers to a student who'd work in their paid role from 4am to 1pm and would then see clients in the afternoon as part of their placement requirements.
"There are not enough hours in the day," she says.
This type of schedule cramming is concerning for anyone, but particularly so for those who work in mental health, which comes with personal risks, says Ho, such as exposure to vicarious trauma, burnout and compassion fatigue.
"We find our jobs incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. And we need to consider that working in this line of work involves holding significant emotional and cognitive loads. Not just for psychology students, but for all healthcare students and professionals in general.
"As psychologists and health professionals, we preach to our clients to take care of their mental health and wellbeing and we need to practice what we preach."
Dr Penney has seen placement related stress negatively impact students too.
"Some students have shared with me that they struggle to complete assessments or placement days due to the need to work nights and weekends to pay for necessities, rent and mortgages.
"Some interstate students have shared with me that they cannot afford to travel home during university breaks. These challenges can impact their mental health, their academic progress, and some have considered whether to drop out," she says.
On top of this, the amount of available placements in postgraduate psychology courses are scarce.
"Whilst the number of postgraduate training programs has increased over the past decade, the availability of field placements has not proportionately increased.”
While many supervisors are energised and fulfilled by their work, Dr Penney notes that challenges of limited resources, burnout and insufficient workload recognition are significant challenges for others, which can “decrease capacity to supervise students”.
What needs to change?
While APS has previously made impactful advocacy wins – such as securing funds for the addition of 500 psychology post-graduate placements, 500 one-year internships, 2,000 supervisor training sessions and a redesign of the psychology higher education pathways – more work is required to see further change.
The APS's 2024 Thinking Futures report found that 95 per cent of Australians think it's important for the government to invest in psychology services and reported a sharp increase in reports of psychological distress in 15–24-year-olds (18.4% in 2011 versus 42.3% in 2021).
This is supported by other data which found that in 2020–2022, of the 19.8 million Australians aged 16–85 years, 42.9% (8.5 million people) had experienced a mental disorder at some time in their life.
To get more psychologists into the profession, Dr Penney says the government needs to take active steps to "level the playing field" for psychology students.
"Making psychology more accessible by increasing the availability of placements and financially supporting students to complete them would help meet Australia's increasing mental health needs and psychologist shortages.
"This year the government announced a Commonwealth Prac Payment that allows eligible nurses, teachers and social workers to access funding to support their studies and placement work.
"This is a momentous step forward, however, it excludes other professions, such as psychology and medical students who are also completing intensive training that is highly needed in the community."
Having that weekly payment of $319, would be a huge stress relief on psychology students, says Ho.
"Many individuals who have expressed wanting to go into postgraduate psychology are reconsidering their options because of the significant HECS debts associated with studying postgraduate psychology. The last thing we want to do at this point in time is deter people from entering a profession that's so needed.
"We need to ensure that training for the next generation of psychologists is equitable and accessible."
She also urges the government to consider other ways it could ease the financial burden on psychology students.
"There are also significant professional fees involved in training to be and maintaining your registration as a psychologist. Things such as CPD and professional indemnity insurance can add up into the thousands."
While the government has talked about introducing an assistant psychologist division to address the shortage, the APS have previously raised concerns about this proposal.
The APS believes that money could instead go towards funding more Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP) for students.
“Expecting provisional psychologists to undertake these placements for free puts psychology out of reach for so many students,” says Dr Catriona Davis-McCabe, APS President. “[This] puts even more pressure on the psychology workforce, and ultimately does nothing but harm patients who need to access psychology care."
Ho agrees, stating, "Given the significant shortage of psychologists, we need to stop deterring people from coming into the profession and help to increase the workforce. Making all postgraduate psychology positions Commonwealth supported would be a huge step in this direction."
Maintain a diverse profession
If a lack of government support continues, Dr Penney is concerned it will push certain students out of the profession, leaving space only for those from privileged families.
"We need to ensure an equitable and diverse profession," she says.
"I worry that as the cost of living continues to rise, we will see less diversity in applicants to postgraduate psychology programs, which would be an incredible loss to have a possible future profession that does not fully represent or understand the diverse communities it serves."
Ho agrees and says this doesn't sit right with her.
"Training to become a psychologist is becoming increasingly inequitable for people. It's becoming a profession that's only available to those who might be in a more privileged position. That doesn't encourage diversity in our profession. I think everyone should stand a fair chance."
As part of APS’s efforts to ensure for a diverse profession, APS has previously called for the following measures:
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Make it viable and sustainable for universities to offer postgraduate courses leading to registration as a psychologist. Current higher education funding settings disincentivise universities from offering, or expanding, such courses, severely constricting the training pipeline for psychologists.
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Promoting the diversity of psychologists’ scope of practice, including through a reinvigoration of training pathways for the nine areas of practice endorsement (AoPE).
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This would reverse the trend towards the closure of courses and degree options in AoPEs other than clinical psychology. This also requires rectifying illogical disparities in funding (e.g. where postgraduate courses in Organisational Psychology receive significantly less Commonwealth funding than courses in other AoPEs).
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Supporting provisional psychologists and their placement supervisors, including through financial support to enable provisional psychologists to undertake placements in rural and remote locations; national coordination of placements to reduce administrative duplication and burdens on students, supervisors and universities, and to develop new placement opportunities; enabling provisional psychologists on placement to be eligible to receive the newly announced Commonwealth Prac Payment; and providing ongoing support for psychology supervisor training.
You can read more about APS’s proposed changes here.