Rising costs may affect tradies

The prospect of rising training fees could have a long-term effect on apprentice numbers in the South West, according to Bunbury Apprentice and Trainee Centre chief executive officer Stan Liaros.

Students who want to enrol in a TAFE or other tertiary training course in 2014 have to do so without knowing what it will cost them, with a rise in fees the only certainty after a State Government announcement earlier this year.

Mr Liaros said the unknown training costs could cause those considering a trade to rethink their application.

“This is going to impact on the industry, it is going to impact on apprentices and there is potential for impact on the future,” he said.

“It is going to cost more to access training and that is not good in this economic climate.”

SWIT managing director Duncan Anderson said the institute’s fee structure was not far away from being finalised.

“The South West Institute of Technology has completed preliminary calculations as part of the routine planning cycle and is waiting for final confirmation of the fee schedule before publishing the information on its website,” he said.

“The institute will honour 2013 fee rates for students who are already enrolled, while new enrolments will attract the revised fee.

“We have processes in place to ensure students can apply for a training place without any financial commitment.”

South West MLC Adele Farina said it was outrageous for people to be asked to commit to further training without an idea of the financial impact it could have.

“The massive hike in TAFE will put the cost of training beyond the reach of many,” she said.

“Prospective students wishing to undertake a course not on the priority list would be well-advised to re-enrol early, but asking them to do so without knowing what the cost will be is unfair.”

Department of Training and Workforce Development director general Dr Ruth Shean said an indicative course fee schedule for 2014 had been available on the department website since August 22.

“Prospective students are being encouraged to contact training providers to get an estimate of the overall costs of courses they are considering,” she said.