Putting part-time students on the map
Kelly Linden and Sarah Teakel, Charles Sturt University
The Australian Universities Accord has set an ambitious agenda for expanding access and success in higher education, particularly for underrepresented and equity students. Yet, one growing cohort remains largely unsupported – part time students. In 2023, approximately 30% of university students in Australia were studying part-time (Department of Education, 2025). From 2019 to 2022, part-time students were more than twice as likely to drop out of university compared to full-time students (O’Kane et al, 2024) and studying part-time is the single biggest risk factor for university attrition (Norton et al., 2018). Part-time students are more likely to be from an equity group and part-time study intersects with multiple under-represented groups (O’Kane et al, 2024).
Kelly’s 2025 ACSES Equity Fellowship – Helping part-time students to succeed in a full-time world – has already identified university policies, processes, support and government funding that are skewed towards supporting full-time students. This misalignment has significant implications for part-time student success. Preliminary insights from our national survey (just over 1000 survey responses) and 80 follow up interviews reveal part-time students are often time-poor and navigate significant challenges. Many are working at or near full-time, managing various caring responsibilities, or have significant health concerns—either their own or their dependents. The timetabling of compulsory classes and difficulty connecting with other students also present challenges to success.
The barriers part-time students face are not just logistical—they are structural and cultural, embedded in a system that assumes students can dedicate themselves fully to study. From our experience, many are incredibly dedicated to their study, but university cannot always be their number one priority.
“...it comes back to treating me as half a student.”
Redrawing the boundaries of support
We should be redrawing the boundaries of support. The Universities Accord recommended (Recommendation 15) that the government extend pro-rata support to students who study part-time (0.5-0.74 EFTSL). This has the potential to have real impact for part-time students, who generally have very limited financial assistance available. Many scholarships are only available for full-time students. Even when part-time students are eligible for scholarships, they face additional barriers. For example, some universities provide these students with only 50% of the scholarship; even for small equity scholarships designed to cover the purchase of equipment such as a laptop. And only part-time students pay tax on scholarships. One criterion for scholarships at our university is study load. Consequently, of the few scholarships for which part-time students are eligible, an equally qualified full-time student will be successful over a part-time student.
“For students who are not working, there's generally a pretty good reason why they are both part time and not working. Therefore they need every cent of the scholarship that they can get.”
Beyond finances, course structures can also be prohibitive. Inflexible work integrated learning and compulsory weekly classes make balancing study with work and caregiving responsibilities nearly impossible. These challenges are often not visible to students on enrolment, leading many to feel like they are on a detour before they have even started.
Simple policy changes to chart a new course
There are a number of simple policy changes that could be considered to set students on the road to success. For example, many universities are introducing automatic extensions, which can be a game changer for students juggling multiple responsibilities. Additionally, maximum course completion policies can add an unnecessary roadblock for part-time students, particularly for those studying short post-graduate courses who have no opportunity for a leave of absence if they choose to study one unit per semester. Currently, many universities policies are based on the formula 2n+2, where n is the number of years to complete the course full time. A fairer solution would be a blanket 10 years to complete, which could be overridden by accreditation requirements if currency of knowledge dictates a shorter course completion time. These simple policy changes would make an enormous difference to part-time students.
We need to chart a new course and put part-time students on the map. Kelly’s 2025 ACSES Equity Fellowship is taking a mixed methods approach to develop guidelines for universities and the government to better support part-time students.
Please consider sharing our national survey with your part-time students. The survey will be open until August 31st.
Calling all part-time students!
If you are currently studying part-time at an Australian university, we want to hear from you!
If you have 20 minutes, share your thoughts on what’s going well and where you face challenges. Your responses will remain anonymous and will help shape a better future for part-time students. You will also have the option of going into a draw to win one of twenty (20) $50 vouchers.
For more information, check out the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LFBBPMH
This research is part of a project funded by the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES).
Associate Professor Kelly Linden is a 2025 ACSES Equity Fellow at Charles Sturt University.
Dr Sarah Teakel researches student support and success at Charles Sturt University.