7 June 2010
Fees for my course up from $800 to $8000
I am both a part-time teacher and a part-time student in a TAFE course. I am also a writer (of fiction, non fiction and journalism) and an occasional ABC arts broadcaster, so I am critically aware of the importance of supporting arts education in order to nurture the local arts industry.
This brings me to the issue of the negative impact on arts-related courses of the Victorian State Government's changes to the TAFE fee structure.
I am teaching in RMIT's Professional Writing and Editing diploma, a highly-respected course that attracts and produces really good writers, many of whom are getting published and winning prizes (Kate Holden, Toni Jordan, Chris Womersley, just to name a few recent ones - but our students are also to be found on the pages of The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald). Most of our students are mature age (ie. the people who have interesting stories to tell) and most have other qualifications, higher than this TAFE diploma.
Because they have higher degrees already, under the new fee structure, I am told that their course fees will rise from $800 a year to approximately $8000 a year - ie. $16,000 for the two-year Diploma. (The ones without qualifications will also cop a fee hike, though not so large.) Do you know one writer or aspiring writer who could afford fees like that? When I started out as a student in the course (and a freelance journalist at the time) there's no way I could have afforded those prices. I'm told there will be be a HECS-style loan system put in place, but it will have interest rates much higher than HECS - why, I ask?
The situation will be the same (possibly worse) for other arts-related TAFE-based courses, like the screen-writing and visual arts ones (and anyone who knows anything about the Australian film industry knows that we need some good screen-writers). It's going to be potentially disastrous for the training of artists in this state. I understand that the plan is for this new fee structure to be "trialled" in Victoria, then it will spread to other states in the following years.
I know that many publishing industry people have been horrified when they've heard about the possible impacts of these changes. They rely on our course to produce writers and books that are ready for publication. As a teacher in the course, I know that the mature-age cohort makes a huge difference to the industry-readiness of our graduates. Our enrolments could drop, and our demographic will change enormously.
Career changers, people re-training for industry relevance and creative innovators are the people who will be shut out of this course (and others like it) by these fee hikes. I do hope that this policy will be re-considered, before it has an irrevocable negative impact on a really good course.
— Posted by Sian Prior, TAFE teacher, writer, broadcaster
I'm a career changer who already had a degree when I enrolled in the Professional Writing and Editing Diploma at CAE in 2007. If the fees had been then what they are now I would not have done so. I enrolled in this course because as I approached retirement and I was looking for something I could do part-time - I wasn't clear exactly what. I started with just one subject, Short Story because it was the only subject being offered on-line and I couldn't get to any of the face-to-face classes at that time. I am now winning awards for my short story writing.The course has opened up a whole new world of options to me. When I was young the only careers offered to me were teaching and nursing and as I couldn't stand the sight of blood I became a teacher. This year, I have been employed as a teacher in the PWE course, after completing it myself last year. I think the mental health benefits that the course provides to more mature students like me is immeasurable but already I see a drop-off of these very people as the fees increase. I also think younger students benefit from the mix of ages and vice versa. It saddens me to think that the course may not survive as a result of these changes.
Gillian Essex, Australia, 30 JUN 2010 18:53
I thought the $1,240 fees for the fine arts diploma in NSW this year was high. I note that this is a trial in Victoria to be carried over to other states. I wonder how much the Advanced diploma will cost next year? It discriminates against mature aged students and I think the Government is trying to get rid of the arts instead of encouraging.
Jeanette, Wollongong, 08 JUN 2010 23:08
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