Are private college courses a rip-off?

[Deactivated] on 13/10/2014 - 11:08

A friend wants to do a course because you get a free laptop and also because you get reinbursed your travel costs each week and get free breakfast and lunch… the course is government funded but somehow you still have to pay them back the cost when you earn overa certain amount… the clever people at this place got rid of the course fees… they want you to call them and ask… but I remember once stumbling on these guys website like a year ago and the fees were like $15000… personally I think TAFE is cheaper… and that these private colleges are a rip-off.

What do you think?

BTW this is the place and the course my friend is interested in:
http://www.ntdtraining.com.au/courses/diploma-of-community-s…

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Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 13/10/2014 - 14:30
    +1

    WoW, $15,000 - you can get the majority of a Bachelors Degree with that much money.

  • mailbox on 13/10/2014 - 14:32
    +1

    Hey man, Don't go to a private college.

    In my experience these private colleges use buzz words like government funded, free laptop, fee-help approved etc to pull people in. None of this is free. They just charge you a premium on top of your enrolling fee.

    You have to pay all of this back after you reach the fee-help threshold ($51,000 I think). They use FEE-HELP as a excuse to say it is government funded. Its not.

    I bought into the college Qantm marketing bs and dropped out after 1 month and now I have to pay back $5000.

    I would recommend your friend looks into TAFE courses and talks to a TAFE course advisor. I received a Diploma and advanced diploma from them this year. It came to a total WELL under $2000. The only downside if you have to pay upfront.

    If your friend is on centrelink (even receiving $1) the costs come down to $99.

  • Franconian on 13/10/2014 - 14:39

    I did a course with a different private college in VIC which was fully government funded, i. e. zero to pay for me and got an accredited Diploma. I don't even qualify for FEE-HELP as I am not an Aussie citizen.

  • Geewhizz on 25/10/2014 - 07:16

    Exactly what Mailbox said - they spruik 'no upfront fees' 'govt funded' 'free laptop' etc etc, but at the end of the day you come out of them with a huge debt, regardless of whether you complete the course or not. There was a segment about these on ABC radio a couple of weeks ago.

  • [Deactivated] on 13/12/2014 - 17:00

    Yeah, it's not free. Plus the government are planning to push through measures to take money from your estate after you die. So, they'll just take it from your children's inheritance, which is technically your own money.

    It's been on the tables for a while now, but like many other measures it will likely be passed within the next decade or so.

    • jaybmate on 14/12/2014 - 01:21

      Are you talking about if you have a HECS or FEE Help Debt and owe the government money? or is referring to everyone, as a tax?
      If its the former, why shouldn't they? All other debts (eg from banks etc) get taken out of your estate when you die, why shouldn't the government get the money that is owed to them?

  • decadent1 on 28/12/2014 - 08:40

    You can do the same course at pretty much any TAFE in Australia and if you're eligible for any concessions they will be given to you.

    Government funding model changes have meant that Private RTOs have moved from sucking the government funding directly to getting the student to apply for it via Fee-Help and then pay it as a large up front fee. This then leaves the student with a large debt.

    With TAFE, you pretty much pay as you go at the start of each semester.

    Go with the TAFE option.

  • Belistic on 28/12/2014 - 11:33

    The courses I looked at via the private education places, were around 20k can came with a 'free' laptop or ipad etc, with no up front fees etc, once you earned over 52k annually, that's when you start to pay back the tuition fees.

    Not worth it, IMO, TAFE is cheaper and a better option.

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