Skills reform facts

New fees

For government-supported  places

	Diplomas and above	Certificate III and IV
Old rates	$877	$877
July 2009	$1,500	$1,000
2010	$2,000	$1,000
2011	$2,000	$1,250
2012	$2,500	$1,250

Talking points

• Government-supported Diploma and Advanced Diploma students with concession cards face a fee increase of up to 2,627% in the first year of the new system

• According to Skills Victoria, 15% of VET students starting courses in 2006 already held a diploma or higher. Applied to government-supported VET students in 2008, that would mean around 9,500 students next year will be forced to pay full-course costs - often over $10,000 - rising to 45,000 in 2011

• The largest fee increases are for Diploma and Advanced Diploma students despite the State Government's undertaking with the Council of Australian Governments to double the number of such qualifications completed by 2020

• Fee increases reduce the net return to educational investment by students and businesses; as such they are a disincentive

• Groups as diverse as the Minerals Council of Australia, the Manufacturing and Engineering Skills Advisory Board and the Australian Nursing Federation have said that:

• A contestable funding model could lead to the exploitation of students and businesses by training organisations attempting to undercut each other on costs and that
• Such a system would hamper attempts at coordinated skills planning
• Contestability will erode the range of courses available. The Manufacturing and Engineering Skills Advisory Board noted that a ‘significant concern with contestability suggestions is that of providers cherry-picking low cost, highdemand areas and leaving publicly funded TAFE Institutes to service remaining areas'.

• According to the Adult Multi-cultural Education Service (AMES), restricting government funding to higher level qualifications than those already held by a student will disadvantage:

• Overseas qualified migrants and refugees
• Workers who need retraining due to changes in requirements of a job
• Retrenched workers
• Workers who have been made redundant.

(The last two categories may attract some federal training funds for small number students)

• The Victorian TAFE Association cites research findings that members of Generation X are likely to change career 3 times during their working life while Gen Y are expected to change 5 times. A Manpower report last year found that in 2007 46% of Generation Ys held a degree or diploma whilst a further 12% were studying at university.