VET FEE-HELP – the good, the bad and the ugly

Presenter: Dr Peter Ryan

Melbourne – 28th August 2015

The Good

Removing market distortion

Removing social disadvantage

The Bad

Square peg in a round hole

Creating a new market distortion

Pushing regulation to the limit

Large student debt from overpriced courses

The Ugly

Rapidly changing, reactive regulation

YEAR APPROVALS

2008 (part year) 8

2009 42

2010 30

2011 24

2012 28

2013 75

2014 74

2015 (to date) 15

Revocations -23

TOTAL 273

Dear Applicant

Your application to become a VET FEE-HELP provider has been received and accepted by the department and will be processed in as timely a fashion as possible. Processing time is largely dependent on the information received in the application.

Under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 applications must be decided within 90 days of the department receiving the application. The Minister has the discretion to seek further information about one or more components of an application until satisfied the applicant has met all the requirements for approval as a VET FEE‑HELP provider.

If further information is requested, a formal notice will be issued in the HELP IT System (HITS) with a deadline date for receipt of the information. The department will have a further 60 days following the notice deadline to assess the information provided.

If you have any queries concerning your application please send them to tsenquiries@education.gov.au, marked to the attention of the HELP Operations.

Subject: Assessment of RFI response [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Hi, Thank you for your email to the Tertiary Study Enquiries mailbox. The department is currently assessing a large volume of applications. The Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA) sets out the requirements for the Minister to decide an application including enabling a decision to be made if the legislative timeframes are not able to be met. The department will be in contact concerning your organisation’s application in due course.

So where does this leave those trying to engage meaningfully

with the regulation?