STUDENT fees will more than triple next year for some year 11 and 12 vocational education and training (VET) subjects.
VET subjects are offered under the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) and Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) for students wanting to complete industry-based training while at school.
All bar one VET subject will increase in cost next year, with several units doubling or tripling.
Studying first-year business at Bayside College, for example, will cost $350 next year, up from $100 this year. Fees for another popular subject — fashion, which is offered at Point Cook Senior Secondary College — will rise from $150 to $500. Allied health will double from $150 to $300, while second-year community services will increase from $150 to $400. Second-year media, another popular subject, will jump from $150 to $350. Music, offered at Laverton College, will go from $180 for years one and two, up to $280 each year.
Williamstown father Peter Stevenson, whose daughter Prue has Asperger syndrome, said the price hikes would force students out of the courses. He said studying VET subjects through VCAL was a pivotal point in Prue’s life.
Prue was awarded a placement through Western Bulldogs Spirit West Services at Footscray after having difficulties in mainstream schools, and she completed her certificate II in multimedia at Kangan Batman TAFE.
She is studying a fine arts bachelor degree at RMIT after being selected as a mature-age student.
Mr Stevenson said western suburbs families facing higher VET fees might not be able to put their children through subjects.
“The impact that it would have on low-income areas if families couldn’t get access to that . . . they would limit their children’s future prospects.
“Obviously, in the lower economic areas it will definitely stop people putting them [through VET] and they’re probably the kids who need it the most, so it will prevent them having an education pathway to help them achieve their potential.”
James Martin, a spokesman for Education Minister Martin Dixon, said the state government’s “advice to schools was to shop around for prices from other training providers”.
State Williamstown MP Wade Noonan said Mr Dixon’s response was outrageous.
“We’re not talking about buying white goods here.
“This is about the potential to price some families out of educational opportunities for their children and the best the government can say is ‘shop around’?
“That’s just plain insulting. Why doesn’t the minister take some responsibility?”
