Western suburbs students have been severely affected by state government cuts to Victoria University TAFE, according to western suburbs Greens MP Colleen Hartland.
Students responding to an online survey by Ms Hartland highlighted impacts of the 2012 cuts, including study being made harder for vulnerable students, courses being scrapped and administrative issues taking a long time to fix.
More than half of the 32 students who responded said they were struggling to pay rent, bills and transport costs and just under half were considering withdrawing from study. More than a third relied on loans from family and friends.
One in four was prevented from studying their preferred course and the same number was prevented from studying altogether.
Ms Hartland said the results proved students were being hurt by the $40 million deficit caused by the TAFE cuts to VU, which is the biggest provider of TAFE education in the western suburbs.
“Students reported sacrificing meals, doing more paid work and not keeping up with rent and bills,” she said.
“They also indicated they are enticed by private providers who are able to undercut TAFEs by providing lower fees.”
Ms Hartland said TAFE education quality was waning under larger class sizes, the axing of courses and loss of crucial staff.
“These figures are shocking,” she said. “Almost 60 per cent of our respondents indicated that the cutting of key staff had negatively affected their studies.”
Footscray resident Kristen Scott said the fee hikes had frozen her out of TAFE study.
With her youngest child starting school next year, the stay-at-home mother was planning on studying for qualifications to take her into adult teaching, only to find her path blocked by rising costs.
“Before, it would have been under $1000,” she said. “Now I’m looking at more than $2000 with union fees on top of that.”
Ms Scott said that because she already had an arts degree and an education diploma from before the birth of her children, she didn’t qualify for assistance.
“Because of my previous study the certificate IV is classed as downskilling, even though it would be upskilling by giving me the skills to work in this field,” she said.
A spokeswoman for Higher Education and Trades Minister Peter Hall said a survey of 32 people did not reflect “an outpouring of community concern”.
“The reality is that more than 87 per cent of Victorian students say they are satisfied with the training they receive, which is comparable to the performance in other states,” the spokeswoman said.
She said there were almost 100,000 more people training in western Melbourne than in 2010 under Labor.
