Thursday, 23 March 2023

Vocational education and training

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (16:31): (150) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Higher Education and Minister for Training and Skills, and it relates to the matter of free TAFE provision or, perhaps more accurately, subsidised TAFE. The action that I seek is for the minister to review the way additional costs are communicated to potential students so that they have full transparency about the expenses they are likely to incur. The reason I raise this is that I had former students of mine actually visit me this week who also study in my electorate. I understand and acknowledge that course fees are free or, in effect, subsidised by the government. But other costs that students commonly incur include books, which one student quoted was up to $400; police checks; insurance; working with children checks; materials; and sometimes even accommodation for those that have to travel a significant way from home. All those costs could potentially add up to thousands of dollars. But when TAFE programs are advertised as free, it could cause confusion and it could facilitate people making decisions without clear and full information.

When I checked the Victorian government’s free TAFE website I did not find any information about any additional on-costs or even a disclaimer clearly saying that only course fees are subsidised, not additional costs. I encourage the minister to consider having more transparency around the costs associated with studying at TAFE so that people can make an informed decision. Quite often TAFE students do struggle because they are younger people that have financial difficulties, and having full information and being able to compare additional course costs might help them make better decisions. I say this as a former teacher who has had many students take a TAFE pathway as their preferred pathway, and it has been the right pathway for them. I just want to make sure that when people go to make these decisions they do have the full information, which would include the additional costs that might be associated with the course, not just the course fees themselves that are put out there to be ‘free’.