Students shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to delete their dodgy debts
Letter to Vocational Education Minister Michaelia Cash
To Minister Cash,
Re: Don’t make young Australians jump through hoops to delete their private college debts
I want to express my concern at the government’s new legislation to delete the debts of students affected by the VET FEE-HELP scheme/private college rort.
While relieving some students of their debts is a step in the right direction, all students who were affected by this scheme should be eligible to have their debts wiped. Nobody caught up in this scandal should have to wear the burden of thousands of dollars in dodgy debts – even the ones who finished their courses.
Additionally, under your new bill young people will need to go through a lengthy process to even be considered having their debts waived. Don’t make these students jump through hoops to delete their private college debts.
We call on you as the Minister for Skills and Vocational Education to:
- Automatically wipe the debts accumulated by all students caught up in this scheme, and save them the stress and worry of navigating the long and complicated admin proposed in this bill.
- Relieve the debts of students who completed their ‘worthless’ courses at dodgy private colleges.
Sincerely,
Background
Last week, the Australian Government introduced a bill to support the students affected by the VET FEE-HELP scheme which left thousands of students saddled with debts of up to $100,000 [1]. Remember between 2009 and 2016 thousands of students were swindled by dodgy private colleges through the VET FEE HELP Program? These shonky providers coerced students into signing up to substandard training courses and thousands of dollars of debt. Many of these courses were never delivered and are now worthless.
So if this bill goes through, students will now be able to have their debts wiped – but there’s a catch. Eligible students will need to jump through hoops to do it. There’s a ton of red tape involved – from written applications, to personal statements, and even then, it will be up to the Department of Education to decide whether they will delete a student’s debts.
And there’s more – this legislation only covers some students affected by this scheme, not all of them. The Minister herself has called the qualifications provided by these shonky private colleges ‘worthless’, but students who completed their courses are not allowed to have their debts wiped. What kind of deal is that?
Students implicated in the private college education scandal should have access to a simple, straightforward process to relieve their debts. All young Australians caught up in this rort deserve a chance to live their lives without the burden of thousands of dollars in dodgy debts.
We call on the Australian Government to:
- Automatically wipe the debts accumulated by all students caught up in this scheme, and save them the stress and worry of navigating the long and complicated admin proposed in this bill.
- Relieve the debts of students who completed their ‘worthless’ courses at dodgy private colleges (your words Michaelia, not ours)[2].
Sign this petition to send a strong message to PM Scott Morrison and Michaelia Cash to give back the cash.