The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) is seeking input from the design, building and construction industries before finalising its draft recommendations on price and fee setting for government-funded VET under Smart and Skilled to apply from July 2014.
IPART’s draft recommendations propose base prices for each qualification according to the cost of providing the training, with government funding 60% of the base price for courses on the Skills List, and students paying 40%.
IPART is proposing that this approach should apply to all student fees, including apprentice and new entrant trainee fees.
Under this proposal, 16% of students that pay the standard fee would see a fee decrease, while around 24% would face increases of up to $500 per qualification.
A further 37% would face increases of between $500 to $1500 per qualification and approximately 22% of students studying in high cost areas will face increases of more than $1,500 per qualification.
Apprentices and trainees may face larger fee increases of $1000 or more per qualification because their current fees are heavily subsidized. This will particularly impact those undertaking a higher level qualification in a technical or trade-based industry where training costs are relatively high.
IPART have recommended that fee increases for apprentices and trainees be initially capped at $3,000 per qualification.
In the subsequent years, this cap would be increased by $1,000 per year until the fee reaches a level that reflects 40% of the base price
IPART Chairman, Dr Peter Boxall, said the proposed approach seeks to balance the affordability and availability of VET in NSW.
“While we anticipate that apprentices, trainees and employers in the design, building and construction industries will have concerns about fee increases, setting fees lower than 40% will reduce the number of government-subsidised VET places that can be made available in NSW,” Dr Boxall said.
“We estimate that, without fee increases, the NSW Government would provide around 61,000 fewer subsidised VET places in 2014/15.”
“We are interested in stakeholder views about whether this is the right balance between affordability and availability,” added Dr Boxall.
Submissions are being sought until 27 August, with IPART due to finalise its recommendations to the NSW Government in September.
The IPART review is occurring alongside the development of the NSW Skills List by the Department of Education and Communities that will determine which courses and qualifications receive government funding.
Under Smart and Skilled, fees would be applied equally across TAFE and registered private providers, with final prices to be set by the NSW Government based on both IPART’s recommendations and the NSW Skills List.
