Govt cuts big on social studies fees

Social studies students will be the biggest losers once the government cuts its contribution to course costs.

Details of the new Commonwealth contributions, to apply from 2016, show government funding for social studies will drop by more than one-third.

Engineering, science, surveying and visual and performing arts courses face cuts of about one-quarter of present amounts.

But for maths courses, the government will pay about a quarter more than it does now.

It will also pay more of the costs for humanities, clinical psychology, foreign languages and allied health.

Tuesday's budget revealed the government contributions would drop by an average of 20 per cent across the board.

It's likely students will have to make up the difference.

The categories of Commonwealth funding have been streamlined from eight clusters of disciplines to five.