TAFE fee fight

By Jade Lawton
A LOCAL student claims the introduction of HECS style fees for TAFE courses could force low income-earners into welfare dependency.
Rachel Hall, of Pakenham, said she was shocked to learn that the cost of her community development and welfare diploma course could jump from $130 to thousands of dollars per year under State Government skills reforms to be introduced from 1 July.
“They are taking away the concession card rates of $130 a year – one third of our class are low income single parents and for $260 they can get their diploma and a job,” she said.
“There is no way I could consider paying thousands of dollars in fees – I couldn’t burden my family with that.”
Ms Hall said at least a quarter of the students in her class, at Chisholm’s Dandenong campus, were from the Cardinia Shire.
“It is really intimidating. A lot of TAFE students haven’t done Year 12 and are from low socio-economic areas,” she said.
“They find TAFE a stepping stone to university. TAFE is a good option for people to further their careers.”
Ms Hall has helped collect about 800 signatures of people against the TAFE overhaul and has planned a protest outside Parliament House for Thursday 7 May.
Member for Eastern Victoria, Edward O’Donohue, said the decision did not make sense in the current financial climate.
“This growth corridor has the potential to suffer significant job losses, and the increase to TAFE fees will make it harder for people wanting to improve their skills base and improve their employment opportunities at a time when there is a slow-down in the economy,” he said.
“An example of the negative impact that these changes will have is, that if a student who has already completed a diploma and wishes to enhance their study with a certificate level course, they will then be forced to pay around $10,000 for that additional course.”
While Shadow Minister for Tertiary Education and Training, Peter Hall, said TAFE fees could cost $10,000 a year, the skills.vic.gov.au website said the maximum fees for 2009 would be $1500, while fees would be capped in 2010 at $2000.
Member for Bass, Ken Smith, said the HECS option would put pressure on the TAFE system, limiting the classes offered to students.
“Rachel has been giving it a go, which is what it’s all about,” he said.
“We will keep taking in signatures and putting the maximum pressure on parliament.”
A government spokesman denied the claims, saying the $316 million skills reform was the single biggest investment ever made to the state’s ‘skills system.’
“This package will introduce the Victorian Training Guarantee, an Australian first which entitles all Victorians access to a post-school qualification, a fairer fee schedule which aligns fee levels with qualifications and 865,000 students will see a drop in their fees.
It also provides 172,000 new training places,” he said.