The Federal Government has introduced legislation to lock in 100,000 Fee-Free TAFE places each year from 2027.
FEE-Free TAFE has largely dropped off the radar of most of the Twitterati/LinkedIn chatterverse, because there seems to be fairly solid support for provision of free courses as a mechanism to drive individuals into areas of workforce need without encumbering them in debt – at least from the TAFEs hoovering up hundreds of thousands of enrolments.
The Price is (sometimes) right
Altering pricing to make courses more popular. Is that ringing any bells? Just this week someone posted a giant digital shrine of Gough Whitlam declaring university free of charge to all into one of my social feeds. The demise of free HE has been lamented multiple times per year since 1989 when HECS became part of the national policy furniture. When Gough introduced free uni in 1974, there were around 140,000 students and 18 universities. There are now around that many staff across more than 40 universities teaching 1.6 million students – in universities alone. Universal access to free degrees has a snowball’s chance in hell of even making it to Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ suggestion box, but the Federal Government’s tacit approval of the Job Ready Graduates pricing program for degrees (it’s a failure but we have no timeline to change it) stands in stark contrast of its glowing endorsement of a price mechanism to drive enrolments in areas of government priority in the VET sector.
Standing by and watching tens of thousands of students rack up huge debts under JRG each year while gaily unlocking the treasure chest for TAFE students? It’s not like low SES students only choose to enrol in TAFE. Policy coherence appears well over the horizon.
The press release announcing the legislation received little press, but provides ample insight into the Government’s esteem for TAFE.
“My Government is putting TAFE back at the centre of vocational education and training, with our investment in Fee-Free TAFE having already seen over 500,000 Australians participating in priority areas to help fix skills shortages,” Prime Minister Albanese said.
“We want to make sure Australians can go on to have well-paid, secure jobs – and Fee-Free TAFE creates those opportunities for individuals as well as investing in the future of our country.”
Voting with their feet?
More than 508,000 students enrolled in fee-free TAFE between Jan 23 and June 24, proving it is popular – to start. Half a million beneficiaries, most of whom cast a vote, means Fee-free TAFE has a strong whiff of electoral success.
On the economic front, however, the more important stat is how many completed their course and went on to fill workforce gaps, which is where the Opposition are not happy, claiming that just 13% of Fee-Free students graduated in the first 15 months of the scheme – amounting to around 61,000 graduates.
Employers claim the low completion rates are not as bad as they seem, for example some tradies require just a few units of the free course, making press releases at five paces (or question time) probably not the best way to chart a strategic way forward.
Retention
Now paid places are on the verge of being locked in for TAFE’s and universities face tight domestic markets and international caps, retention is set to become a bigger operational focus than ever before – worth millions to the bottom line of stretched institutions.
This is all far too important to be left in the sole charge of underfunded and often voiceless student support teams and will become a common recurring meeting topic for leading executive teams in 2025 and beyond.
Sooner or later institutions will realise the very skills sitting in their marketing and engagement teams honed to engage and persuade prospective students to act need to be turned inwards to proactively engage students in more than happy snaps at weekly social events and drive systemic change in retention, working alongside curriculum and wellbeing experts, in a new strategic approach.
