Thanks to the government’s loan program VET FEE-HELP, you may be able to study natural therapies without paying for your tuition up-front. However, the Victorian Government recently announced seemingly-controversial fee and funding changes. Read on to find out about its 2012 VET FEE-HELP reforms.
What is VET FEE-HELP?
The VET FEE-HELP program was established by the Australian Government to make study accessible to all Australians. If you’re eligible for VET FEE-HELP, part or all of your tuition is paid for by the government. You then pay the loan back when you are gainfully employed and earn a certain income.
What Changes Have Been Made?
According to a release issued by the Victorian government, it has introduced VET FEE-HELP reforms to create a “more competitive, effective and affordable system” for students and training organisations. Media reports tell a different story, with some colleges predicting job losses and college closures if the changes go ahead.
The following changes are proposed:
- A $100 million decrease in government funding. Due to ‘cost blow-outs’, the Victorian government is allocating $1.2 billion for the 2012 to 2013 period.
- A 25% reduction in the funding difference between TAFE and non-TAFE providers in Victoria. At the moment, funding levels differ between TAFE and non-TAFE institutions. The TAFEs affected by the change are Chisholm, Kangan Batman, NMIT, RMIT, Box Hill, Holmesglen, Swinburne University and Victoria University.
- Industry weightings are reduced for some industry areas. The changes apply to industries experiencing high growth and high competition between providers. The weighting is also adjusted if evidence exists that providers can offer courses at lower fee levels. For instance, hospitality courses have a new weighting of 0.7 (down from 0.8), while the recreation training weighting will be reduced from 1.1 to 0.8.
- Minimum and maximum fee caps are removed. This means training providers won’t need to apply a minimum or maximum fee caps for their students and can charge students the full training amount. The caps have been removed to ensure a better market for providers and promote competition. However, there will be an hourly fee cap to keep costs down for students.
- Special arrangements for apprentices are ceased. Apprentices will now be charged the same fees as traineeship students, and training providers will get the same amount of funding.
Are Natural Therapy Courses Affected?
Training providers are still navigating the changes and announcing course cuts and fee increases. Victoria University, for example, has said it will need to reduce 50 staff positions and discontinue some of its TAFE courses including sports and fitness, animal studies and tourism.
If you are – or have been thinking about - undertaking a natural therapy course in Victoria, you should contact the institution to find out if your course is affected by the VET FEE-HELP reforms. Haven’t yet chosen a course? A good place to start is our Find a School section.
For more information about VET FEE-HELP, see our article What is VET FEE-HELP?
Originally published on Aug 03, 2012
