Young Australians urged to think twice before going to university: Debt and regret after dropping out

Daily Mail​

15-05-2025

A social media star has warned young Australians to seriously reconsider going to university, saying it left him with nothing but regret and thousands of dollars in debt.
Jack Cooper issued the warning in a video shared to social media about his own university experience after enrolling in a business degree.
'So five years I went to uni thinking that's just what I had to do in life,' he said.
'I enrolled, went for a year and absolutely hated my life.'
He said he felt misled by teachers and the school system, and claimed they pressured students into thinking university was the only path to success.
'Do you know when you're in school and the teachers are like "yeah you've got to go to uni, you've got to get a good ATAR" and all of this,' he said.
'They are scamming you. They are setting you up for failure.'
After he endured subjects like accounting and finance, Mr Cooper realised it wasn't for him.
'After a year, I dropped out and I didn't think too much of it. I was like "yeah I know I've got a bit of a HECS debt but who cares".'
But he didn't realise just how much debt he got himself into by giving university a go and leaving so soon.
'Let's bring it forward to now. I've just had to spend $13,000 to pay off my entire HECS debt because of something to do with my taxes or something, I don't really know but I had to pay off the whole thing,' he said.
'It's $13,000 down the drain because I dropped out. Don't get me wrong, I know this is a very common thing for people but back then I didn't really think like that.'
Cooper said young Aussies needed to have a good think about whether university was right for them because it if it didn't work out it could really set a young person back, financially, in an already tough cost of living crisis.
'My advice to you all is if you are going to uni, only go if you truly want to be there and you're setting yourself up for the life that you really want, because otherwise you'll end up like me, spending $13,000 on f****g nothing,' he said.
Mr Cooper's message resonated with thousands online.
'We don't realise, as freshly 18 year olds, what that money actually means. We just think "oh yeah we'll pay it off when we get a real job anyway". The longer I do my degree I'm realising how much $82,000 actually is,' one said.
'They don't educate us about HECS properly in school. We are just babies at 18 going to uni with no idea about the weight of that debt on us!' another said.
What's the alternative to uni for young Aussies?
Melbourne woman Chelsea Taylor has three unfinished university degrees and about $30,000 in student debt.
The 23-year-old told Daily Mail Australia she felt a 'real big push to go to university' and did a year studying each in Exercise Sport Science, Teaching and Nursing.
'It was at the end of my third year of university that I realised that I didn't want to be there – I wasn't enjoying university, and it wasn't leading to what I wanted,' Ms Taylor said.
Ms Taylor said she was 'feeling lost' and unsure about her career when her brother saw a TV ad calling for Melbourne Metro Train drivers.
The young Aussie applied and landed the role. She has been working as a train driver since September 2020.
'When I started as a train driver, I didn't know anything about trains... but the training required was incredibly comprehensive,' Ms Taylor said.
'It can be a challenging job, it's a big responsibility transporting hundreds of people at once, but it's worth it,' Ms Taylor said.
Ms Taylor wished she had discovered her job sooner.
'When I finished high school, I didn't know there were great jobs available if you didn't go to university or didn't go to TAFE,' Ms Taylor said.
'There's also a stigma that if you're not going to university, you're wasting an opportunity. I think this couldn't be more wrong.'
Many high school leavers are snapping up jobs in the mining industry, some of which pay up to $120,000 a year - to save money and further their careers.
Janne D'Huyvetter, 29, works as a FIFO (fly-in fly-out) cleaner and earns up to $2,650 a week.
Ms D'Huyvetter said it's easy for her to save money because she doesn't have to spend on things like a gym, housing, food, or going out since everything is provided at the camp.
'Every mine site has a recreation room with ping pong and pool table. Most of them also have a pool, gym, and a bar.
Multi-millionaire entrepreneur Dick Smith told Daily Mail Australia we should get youngsters out of the lecture halls and into practical work.
'If you want to become a doctor, or an engineer, well, that (university education is) a necessity - but so often it is wasted, especially with people who get arts degrees and never use them,' Mr Smith said.
The businessman said Australia needs more qualified tradespeople as record population growth - fuelled by immigration - has spiked the demands for all kinds of tradesmen, which are now in short supply.
'A tradesman can earn really good money, especially if he or she opens their own business,' Mr Smith said.
'My local electrician, he's a millionaire. He's done very well. And so, to me, a tradesperson who opens their own business can do incredibly well in Australia.
Australian universities experienced a record high dropout rate, with 25.4 per cent of students who started a bachelor's degree in 2017 dropping out by 2022.
The increase in dropouts coincided with a 13 per cent decrease in university enrolments since 2016. There was also a 7.1 per cent rise in student debts in 2023.