Tuition fees

In accordance with our contract with the Department of Education, Training and the Arts (DETA) for the delivery of "User Choice" Apprenticeships and Traineeships, we are required as a Registered Training Organisation to charge Apprentices and Trainees participating in Level II or above qualifications, "Tuition Fees". Students participating in a school based apprenticeship or traineeship do not incur tuition fees. Tuition Fees are not applicable to "Fee for Service" students.

Tuition Fees will be invoiced at the end of each month, after training /assessment has been delivered. Payment for these invoices can be made via cheque, money order, credit card over the phone or in person at the office or direct deposit (Work Skills banking details will be included on the invoice).

NB: A Student will not receive a tuition fee invoice if he or she has not completed any assessments successfully in that month or the tuition fee is less than $10.00 for the month. For the later, the $10.00 fee will be added to the next invoice.

Image_General_03.pngFrom January 1st 2008, these tuition fees are calculated at $1.05 per nominal hour, provided that the total Tuition Fees per Australian Apprentice does not exceed $808.60 in a consecutive 12 Month period.

How is costing calculated?

Below is an example of costing and how it is calculated.

The Department of Education, Training and the Arts (DETA) may amend the fees chargeable on an annual basis, based on CPI. If this occurs, your Client Manager will inform you of this with a written notice prior to changes.

An Apprentice completing an Apprenticeship in Automotive, Certificate III Automotive Sales (Parts Interpreting) completes a unit of Competency such as "Promote Products and Services" which has a nominal hour's completion time of 20 hours. Therefore 20 Hours x $1.05 = $20.60.

The whole Apprenticeship has a total nominal hours of 787 hours x $1.05= $810.61. This amount however is divided by the number of years it takes to complete the Qualification. In this case an example may be three years. Therefore, the cost of approximately $270.20 per year. Divided into twelve months would be approximately $22.51.

Are you exempt from paying 75% Tuition Fees?

It should be noted that an Apprentice will be exempt from paying 75% of the Tuition Fee if it can be shown that the Apprentice falls into one of the following exemption categories:

  • The Student was or will be under 17 at the end of February in the year in which the RTO provides training, and the student has not completed year 12.
  • The Student holds a health care card or pensioner card issued under Commonwealth law, or is the partner or a dependent of a person who holds a health care card or pensioner concession card and is named on the card.
  • The Student issues the RTO with an official form under Commonwealth law confirming that the student, his or her partner or the person of whom the student is a dependent, is entitled to concessions under a health care card or pensioner concession card.
  • A certified copy of a current health care card or current pensioner card is required. It is the responsibility of the Apprentice to ensure a current document is supplied. If the currency of the document provided lapses, the Apprentice will be billed at full rate until a certified copy is received by Work Skills.
  • The Student is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person.

An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person must meet the following three criteria:

  • 1. Must be of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.
  • 2. Must identify as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person.
  • 3. Must be accepted by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person in their community in which they live.

An Apprentice may be totally exempt from paying the Tuition Fee if it can be shown that, notwithstanding the Apprentice does not fall in any of the exemption categories set out above, payments would cause financial hardship, defined as "having to forego the necessities of life". (A Statutory Declaration to this effect will be required as proof).