Axing $2.3 billion from universities to help pay for the long-awaited Gonski reforms for schools is a bittersweet outcome, according to students at the Australian National University.
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ANU Students' Association president Aleks Sladojevic said the most immediate concern of students was whether courses would be cut or student-to-teacher ratios would increase as universities tried to teach on less money.
''But there is also recognition that funding schools properly is a good thing, so university students feel a bit caught in the middle and it's been a really bittersweet reaction,'' she said.
Students across the country will take part in a national day of action on Wednesday to protest the decision.
Sam Robinson, a psychology and languages student, said: ''I can see the benefit in better funding primary education - but it really sucks that the money has to come out of universities. I really struggle to understand how you can move a funding problem from one side to the other and expect a good outcome.''
Arts and Asian studies student Christina Sanderson said she did not understand why universities were not as important to the federal government as schools.
''I think it is far more expensive to run a university than a school, so I wonder why the government thinks it's OK to take the money from us to hand over to schools.''
Economics and Asian studies student Palmo Tenzin said it was shocking to see $2.3 billion cut from the sector just months after $1 billion was cut from research.
''Research is so important for developing our economy, so I'm not sure why it is not a priority. It's really depressing.''
She also worried that the aspirations of primary and high-school-aged children would suffer as they saw universities downgraded. ''There will be less incentive to go to university if standards are low.''
Hiba Akmal, an international relations student who was also studying Arabic, said she was concerned that languages might be cut as universities sought to rationalise courses.
''I worry what it might mean for many vulnerable subjects.''
All the students agreed that transferring Student Start-up Scholarships to HECS loans would discourage some disadvantaged students from even bothering to apply to university at all.
Commerce student Alice Mackie said any addition to an already huge HECS debt could mean the difference between deciding to start a degree or giving up the dream of university and starting in a job with fewer prospects.
''It's pretty savage,'' she said.
