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Commonwealth act
This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
This Act is a Commonwealth funding law that channels money from the federal government to the states, which in turn must pass that money on to their universities. It covers the 1953 and 1954 calendar years.
It sets up a matching-style funding formula. The more a university earns through student fees and State government grants, the more federal money flows to it — up to a cap. Specifically:
If a university's combined income from fees (tuition, exam, enrolment fees, etc.) and State grants (general funding from the state) exceeds a threshold set in the Schedule (the table at the back of the Act), the Commonwealth pays the relevant State:
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Direct links to the current provisions in States Grants (Universities) Act 1953.
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View on official registerSourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
All amounts are expressed in pounds (£), the currency of the time.
States can't just pocket the cash. The Act imposes binding conditions:
This Act is an early example of the Commonwealth using its financial power to directly support Australian universities — a role that has since grown enormously. At the time, universities were almost entirely funded by state governments and student fees, and this Act represented a significant step toward federal involvement in higher education funding.