In Need of Some Student Debt Advice

XVX on 21/03/2017 - 10:26

Just recently I gained access to my Australian Tax Office account for the first time and I was blown away to see my Higher Education Loan Debt sitting there at $27,980.
I am 21 years old and I have just moved out of home and I am in the process of trying to make the first steps in starting a career, so I do not have much of an income. I just recently got a casual job to help pay the bills and I am thinking that I will have to start paying a certain amount a week off this student debt, but I also thought that the debt was way to much when I saw it.

When I completed Year 12 at high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and I didn't really have anyone giving me any advice as to what I should do, and everyone else from school was going off to do Uni courses so I thought that I should do the same. I have always loved video games my whole life, so I thought I should do a uni course in something to do with gaming, and then a friend told me about a Game Design Diploma through a college called Evocca, and I thought it looked great so I signed up straight away.

The college turned out to be pretty poorly organised and I was studying online which meant that I was constantly seeking help from my tutor through Skype or email, where he would take around 3 days to reply. I made my way through the course and about a year through it, I was just under half way complete when I was told my course period was up and I needed to be put on a study plan where I submit an assessment a week or I will fail. I tried this for a bit but with how fiddly game development is, I was constantly needing help from my tutor who would take days to reply. There was no way I would be able to submit an assessment a week with how things were going, so I quit the course rather than fail it.

The diploma was made up of 4 semesters which where opened up at different intervals throughout the course, and when they were opened up, the fees for that quarter were charged to your student loan. I only completed work in the first 2 semesters of work and never started anything in the last 2 so I wasnt sure if I would be charged for them, but it turns out I did. I also expected the total amount of the loan to only be around $25,000 but it is a fair bit more than that.

I am hoping there is something I can do about maybe getting the fees for the last 2 parts of the diploma taken off or something, seeing as I never even started them? And I also would like some advice on how I should generally go about tackling this debt.

TLDR; I stupidly started a diploma which didn't work out well, I quit the course halfway through, and now I have a $28k student loan that I am not sure how to deal with.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, or even somewhere more appropriate to ask for advice?

Financial

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 21/03/2017 - 10:34

    what type of diploma was it for 27K?

    I had a higher car loan at 21, but i was earning super good money.
    Work and pay it off is the obvious when you are the threshold

    • XVX on 21/03/2017 - 10:48

      The diploma was a 'Diploma of Interactive Games Development'. I am not too sure if that was what you mean by what type it was, but that was the name of it.

  • Baysew on 21/03/2017 - 10:35
    +4

    My advice is - Do Nothing!

    You don't have to repay the debt until your income is above $54869.
    ATO

    The debt only increases by the amount of inflation.

    • XVX on 21/03/2017 - 10:52

      Ever since completing the course, I have felt like I should do nothing as I knew about the $50k income thing, but I wasn't aware until I recently looked at my ATO account, that there was inflation fees on the course. The ATO site wont show any information before the 1st of July 2014, so I am not too sure what sort of transactions have gone on before then, but I was shocked to see that $567 was added to the debt in 2015, then another $413 in 206 due to inflation.

    • Zachary on 21/03/2017 - 12:59

      Oh they've changed it, it was 40k when I was studying….

    • rover on 21/03/2017 - 13:16

      "until your income is above $54869."

      When that happens…. emigrate

      • Zachary on 21/03/2017 - 13:30

        I don't think that would work either…I remember reading an article or hearing about it, that they've change some laws or regulations that you would STILL need to pay back regardless if you left the country or not…..so the only way to NOT pay this off is to somehow pronounce your death or something of similar caliber….

        • Tnetennba on 21/03/2017 - 22:43

          There's no way they would chase it up if you are overseas.

          If you decide to return is another matter entirely.

        • Zachary on 22/03/2017 - 14:14

          @brezzo: Wouldn't it be the same how they would chase criminals that escaped their country? And then extract them from where ever it is they currently reside? I heard on the news that some of them are forced to come back to face trial and some other crap….and then went to jail for whatever crime they did.

        • Tnetennba on 22/03/2017 - 18:33

          @Zachary: Until July 1, there is no requirement for an overseas resident to pay back their HECS/TSL. From July 1, the ATO expects people living oveaseas to update their contact details, lodge a non-resident tax declaration, and pay back the required amount, based on income.

          Enforcing that would be ridiculously hard/not done (they'll just get you if you ever come back), but they are at least trying..

          You are thinking of extradition, and I'm no lawyer, but I don't think they are going to bother with extradition for some (relatively) small amounts of HECS.

          Note that I don't condone running away and not paying it back - I think everyone should pay back their HECS if they are obliged to do so. I'm just saying, I don't have the best confidence in ATO to chase it up, simply due to lack of resources..

        • Zachary on 23/03/2017 - 21:20

          @brezzo: Ok, so until Jul 1st then…..just four more months and we're there and then BAM, pay back time, even if you're overseas!

          Like how small of a HECS debt? Less than 1k? Less than 10K? And yes, I was thinking about extradition and thought they might do something similar here as well….

          Well they HAVE to pay it back anyways if they score a job that pays more than 55k a year now! Hahahaha I think I'm at like 20k or so debt with HECS so far, lost count….lol I'm gonna have fun paying that back if I get a 55K min yearly job…

        • Tnetennba on 26/03/2017 - 10:34

          @Zachary: If you're half good in nearly any industry, you'll be over 55k and paying HECS back in no time.

  • holdenmg on 21/03/2017 - 10:37
    +11

    https://evoccaclassaction.com/

    • [Deactivated] on 21/03/2017 - 10:58

      The law firm involved is Kramer vs Kramer….I mean Kramer and Kramer. WTF.

  • try2bhelpful on 21/03/2017 - 10:42
    +9

    The useless $%%^&((*()( @$%^^ private tertiary education places. They are not universities and should be avoided like the plague. They are such a crock and the Goverment is only now doing something about them. Personally I think you were had and I would have a chat to the ACCC people about the place to see if there is something you can do, given how poorly run the place was. However, that said you should always actually cancel a course if you don't intend to continue - don't expect that 'cause you didn't show up they won't charge you for it. Best if Luck on this but, given how rapacious these places are, I fear you may be stuck with it.

    • XVX on 21/03/2017 - 10:54
      +1

      It is quite a shame that they were allowed to even exist and operate the way they did, especially as they are targeting and exploiting young kids like myself when I left school. I wish I would have been more well informed about it all back then, but I guess it was just a very expensive mistake I made.

      • [Deactivated] on 21/03/2017 - 10:59
        +3

        Did you get an ipad incentive to sign or something?

        • XVX on 21/03/2017 - 11:01

          They gave me an Alienware Laptop to do the course with, and then I had to send it back to them when I quit the course.

  • DarkOz on 21/03/2017 - 10:53

    It's pointless to worry about it unless you have some spare cash to repay it in part voluntarily.

    The loan will attract interest yearly based on the CPI. Repayment is calculated automatically by the ATO if your income is above a certain level. Otherwise you could voluntarily repay extra amount if you can afford it.

    They used to have a discount for voluntary repayments in the early stages of the loan. Speak to the ATO if you plan to make voluntary repayments.

  • [Deactivated] on 21/03/2017 - 11:10
    +3

    ABC: "Figures suggest one of the country's largest training colleges had just 19 students graduate from any of its courses in a single year, reigniting concerns about the training sector.

    Data on the Government's MySkills website showed Evocca College enrolled almost 14,000 students in 2012 but just 19 graduated."

  • pantsparty on 21/03/2017 - 11:18
    +1

    I wouldn't do anything for now. You are better off sticking any money you would be looking to put towards your debt into a high interest earning account. The interest you will earn doing this will likely be higher than the inflation charge the ATO will add to your debt each year.

    • dasher86 on 21/03/2017 - 12:53

      This sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.
      It depends on the income tax bracket you fall into as you have to pay tax on interest.
      In addition (i think they stopped this) you used to get a upfront discount if you made voluntary repayments.
      So for someone without any debts paying back the HECs early rather than letting the money sit in a high interest account makes sense.

  • [Deactivated] on 21/03/2017 - 11:28
    +1

    OP, check HECS (or modernised HELP whatever) census dates for your year in dispute. Unfortunately if you didn't give written termination advice by the census date you probably are liable. More widely these crowds are predatory cons and the government shouldn't give them access to student loans, which is their entire mode of fleecing.

  • miicah on 21/03/2017 - 11:32

    I would investigate how you can go about getting the fees waived. As a few people linked above Evocca were one of the worst offenders for the TAFE scam that was going around. At the very least you don't have to worry right now about paying any of it back, but it will be a shock once you start earning more at your job.

  • holdenmg on 21/03/2017 - 11:55
    +3

    Also:
    Ex-Evocca Employee
    https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2438993
    Beware - EVOCCA Changes Name
    https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2554342

    • indium on 21/03/2017 - 13:27

      Scary stuff, hope this didn't happen to you OP:

      In many cases, students were never cancelled. I found more than enough students to indicate it wasnt a mistake. Some students would email in to cancel and then never get cancelled, getting charged for the entire course even though they never should have.

  • BrewerHaHa on 21/03/2017 - 14:38

    I just read more about this college and must say this is ridiculous. Unfortunately I can't assist with offering you any advice but would like to hear more about your experiences. Especially if you learnt anything? Seems like a lot of people who have complained have learnt nothing

    • XVX on 21/03/2017 - 18:25

      I definitely learned a fair bit about game development, but it all seemed to be very out dated information that we were learning. For example, when modelling 3D models for use in a game, we were trying to achieve a polygon count which suited PS2 era game engines and capabilities, rather than the polygon count you can work with when developing for modern machines.

      • BrewerHaHa on 22/03/2017 - 11:26

        I also read that while reading a few news articles. Is it possible to easily apply what you've learnt to current gen games? Or is it so old/outdated that it's not even remotely applicable to what's going on now?

        • XVX on 22/03/2017 - 19:25

          It could technically be applied to current gen, but when this http://i.imgur.com/HZqjdfh.jpg is the level of detail you are told to put into your 3D characters, I am sure your end result of a current gen game would be nothing more than a joke.

        • BrewerHaHa on 22/03/2017 - 23:29

          @mdogxxx: Welllll f***

          Are you still considering a career in game development?

        • XVX on 23/03/2017 - 09:12

          @BrewerHaHa: Nah, it doesn't seem to be a very big industry in Australia at all. I recently completed a Cert III in Web Design at TAFE, but I didn't really enjoy doing web design much.
          I love working with computers like fixing them, building them, sorting out friends and family member's computer problems etc., so I would really enjoy a career doing anything like that, but I have been going for interviews for trainee positions in IT roles since I left school and I always end up unsuccessful, so I have settled for jobs like labouring and food processing instead.

  • tazdevil76 on 21/03/2017 - 17:17
    +2

    The exact same course at TAFE would of been $12,500
    http://tafebrisbane.edu.au/course/17694/diploma-digital-inte…

    Going through private training providers can cost twice as much, hence why some training providers no longer operate because the government took action against some of them.

  • chumlee on 21/03/2017 - 17:26

    Join the class action above or speak to the ACCC as i think they took action against evocca for misleading and deceptive conduct

  • Ughhh on 22/03/2017 - 13:20
    +1

    Can these colleges even get you a job? I would imagine that employers are more likely to employ someone with a degree or certificate from a well known uni or tafe.

    • [Deactivated] on 22/03/2017 - 18:50

      I'd be surprised if there were even 10 full time dedicated game designers in Australia. Maybe one at Tantalus, one at FireMonkey, (Hipster Whale?)…the rest of the Australian game houses would be using programming/management/founder multitaskers I would guess. The comany I worked for had 10 programmers, 2 busy full time artists but only one part time designer working 3 days a week and the industry has tanked further since then.

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