By DAVID SCHOUT
STUDENTS at Dandenong’s Chisholm Institute will be expected to pay up to double their current course fees in 2013.
The recently released 2013 fee structure brings into question how such institutes will attract students to post-secondary education.
Previously, the state government capped most diploma courses at $2500 and subsidised the rest of the cost.
That cap has been removed as part of $300 million statewide cuts, meaning TAFEs have been forced to increase their fees to ensure they do not run at a loss.
Students studying this year for a diploma of specialist make-up services at Chisholm Dandenong paid $2500 for the year-long course.
Next year they will have to pay as much as $5200.
Likewise, 2013 graphic design students will need to fork out more than double their 2012 counterparts.
Australian Education Union’s TAFE vice-president Greg Barclay said Chisholm had its hands tied.
“Some of these fees are equivalent to those of universities,” he said.
“I imagine Chisholm has looked at the number of students enrolled, then the cost to provide the course; then it’s done some pretty simple maths.
“The consequence of these cuts means that some fees will be much higher next year.”
Mr Barclay said the outlook was not good for Victorian TAFEs.
“Come March next year, most of these institutions will realise [they can’t continue] when there’s a lack of enrolments,” he said.
A Chisholm spokeswoman said the fee hikes were an indication that government subsidies were previously “more generous than they could afford to be”.
The spokeswoman said the decision on how much 2013 fees rose depended on “market factors” and the “cost to provide the course”.
Chisholm had tried to minimise fee increases in courses that would affect students of low socio-economic status. The spokeswoman said apprenticeship courses had “generally gone up $100 a year”.
■ The state government has said it will not provide financial assistance to Chisholm TAFE to help with staff redundancy costs.
All redundancy packages will be paid in full by Chisholm, putting the institute in further economic turmoil.
