While the cost of "job-relevant" degrees will drop, a three-year humanities degree is set to more than double, from about $20,000 to $43,500.
"I was pretty dismayed and shocked when I heard this news," Australian Academy of Humanities president Joy Damousi told SBS News.
"It came very unexpectedly, there was no consultation with the sector at all about this course of action and why it should be taken."
“[The decision] seems very short-sighted ... It's really disappointing that there is seemingly no recognition that the humanities make a massive contribution to training our future workforce in providing a broader knowledge and a skill set that is fundamental to the progress of our society," she said.
Ms Damousi called the humanities "the engine room of creativity and innovation".
"Many of our leaders, many of our prime ministers, have had arts degrees," she said.
It's a point a number of Australians have been highlighting on social media throughout Friday.
Law Council of Australia president Pauline Wright was also disappointed by the announcement.
"An increase of 113 per cent in fees for an arts degree – often studied in conjunction with law – diminishes the breadth of critical thinking within the student cohort," she said.
"That will flow through to our society, with less people with the valuable analytical skills acquired in arts and arts-law degrees being available to benefit the myriad industries and professions they go on to work in."
She said the value of humanities "cannot and should not be underestimated".
"The humanities teach us about how we live together and interact, whether historically, in the present day or into the future. The humanities enquire about the fundamental questions of what it is to be human."
