VET & TAFE
campusreview.com.au
Phantom
courses,
real costs
or marketers even could sign students
out and get paid straight away just for
the enrolment.”
Fraudulent training providers have
reportedly been signing students up
without their knowledge, and the Australian
Federal Police (AFP) have been identifying
“ghost colleges” – training organisations
that look real enough but where no
teaching takes place – all in order to reap
the subsidies.
Private for profit VET in Australia: How
police busted a multi-million-dollar
‘ghost college’ scam https://t.co/
MD6uNjlm7h via @ABCNews
— Leesa Wheelahan
(@leesaw2) 5 Nov 2019
O’Neil Santos, 24, was studying fitness at the Sage Institute in Brisbane, which
went into administration in 2017. Picture: Claudia Baxter/ News Corp Australia
Eliminating rogue, ‘ghost’ and
insolvent VET training providers.
By Wade Zaglas
P
eople signing up for courses to
further their careers only to receive
nothing but an outstanding debt has
been just one of the problems plaguing
Australia’s VET sector after the VET FEE-
HELP scheme was introduced.
Bianca Hackett, who lives in Brisbane and
wanted to study child care, was shocked
when – just months after registering for the
course – she discovered the training college
had collapsed.
The experience left Hackett with no
qualifications and a debt of $18,000.
Hackett told ABC TV’s 7.30 program:
“There was a lot of reassurance that we
would be looked after, and we weren’t.
“I’ve suffered depression and anxiety
ever since.”
At first, Hackett saw no signs of
anything untoward.
26
“It was really professional,” she said.
“You got your uniform, you got a
backpack – all that kind of stuff.”
But in 2017 she received a Facebook
message informing her not to come in
because the college had closed.
It is reported that Hackett is one of
thousands of students across Australia who
were duped by rapacious training providers
operating under the VET FEE-HELP scheme.
Bianca Hackett was left with an
$18,000 debt when her training
college collapsed. The VET
Ombudsman has more than 7000
active complaints. A government
redress scheme has seen almost
$500 million of unfair debt written off
#GuaranteeTAFE instead https://t.co/
vnGscLPjud
— Adam Curlis
(@TAFEeducation) Dec 2019
Gerard Brody from the Consumer Action
Law Centre told 7.30: “There really was a
lack of rules or protections built into this
scheme, which meant that private providers
Hackett enrolled in a child care diploma
at the Sage Institute in Brisbane in 2016,
paying $18,000 that was added to her VET
FEE-HELP loan.
However, the provider ceased trading
due to insolvency and closed its campuses
across the country. The AFP have been
looking into the matter for any wrongdoing.
The disappointment for Hackett,
however, is that she cannot enrol in another
college to complete her qualification as she
has already taken out a loan. The federal
government has made significant changes
to tighten up the scheme.
In response to an avalanche of
dodgy, fraudulent providers, the federal
government decided to abolish existing
debts under the previous scheme and
rename the fee scheme VET Student Loans.
Hackett lodged a complaint in October
with the VET Student Loans Ombudsman
and recently received news that her debt
would be wiped.
“I’m relieved that the debt’s gone,”
she said. “But I’m still very disappointed and
feel let down.”
The redress scheme is having some
palpable effects. The latest figures from the
VET ombudsman show $462 million in bad
debts has been wiped from 36,000 students.
However, there are concerns the
number of complaints could rise, with
7000 complaints currently with the VET
ombudsman and a 12-month wait for
complaints to be assessed.
Experts believe there are many
Australians like Hackett who are entitled to
have their debts waived. ■