university???

[lollol]

hi
im emigrating with my family to melbourne in december and im due to start uni next year
i was wondering if you had any advise on how studnt finance works over there, whether most people live at uni like theydo here or commute from home, how maintenance and tuition loans work, anything realy
thanks lauren

[Bradburns]

Hiya Lollol, wanted to know the answer to that too. I was going to train as a midwife if OH didnt pass TRA on his work experience, but he did so i at not going to now, i'm hoping that when my youngest child starts school, i will go to uni in oz. I'm going to keep an eye on this one to hear replies. I know that in some foreighn countries the costs of studying are scandelous, i hope oz is not one of them. Good luck with your replies.

[fatpom]

I'm currently studying at Uni. This is what I think I know?
To get commonwealth assisted finance, basically an interest free index linked loan you have to be a citizen (or maybe also a humanitarian migrant). So for the first four years (I think?) you'd be a full fee paying student with no commonwealth assistance. check out this web site The Going to Uni Homepage

Costs vary, depends what you study. My course costs about $12K per year for an Australian citizen but I think I remember one international student say their costs were in the low +$20K. It might be a bit less (or more?) for undergrad & of course will vary from uni to uni depending on its standing.
I think because the vast majority of people live in or around large towns & because many large towns have a uni of some sort a large number of students remain with their parents during study.

[The Smiths]

Hi. My son mentioned uni the other day for the first time. He's in yr 11 now. Question I want to know, is the cost about the same as here and depending on what you want to study is depending what part of the country you go to uni. $20kish per year seems an awful lot.

Debs

[lollol]

i have a place at melbourne uni which i applied for direct to the uni and i was told a typical full fee paying place for an australian student its around $16,500 a year which is a lot but you can get fee-help which is like a loan which u can get so you dont pay until you leave uni and are earning a certain amount. on receiving my a level results i have applied through vtac (like our ucas) for commonwealth supported places which is where your fees are considerably less as the government pays a contribution however you have to obtain certain gardes to qualify but this depends on your course and the university you choose.you can still get a loan for this which you pay later i think. i hope this helps as a guideline im afraid i only knw about melbourne and victoria really but this could give you a rough idea
lauren
x

[samozsoon]

Hi all

I've looked into this a lot and this is how I think it works (and its taken me months of searching Uni websites for this) but again some of this might not be quite right!

First of all you cant get any help with fees until you're a citizen, or as Fatpom says, you hold a humanitarian visa which I assume you dont.
If you aren't in Oz yet or haven't had your visa validated before July 1st this year, then it'll be 4 years before you can become a citizen.


Next, the fees. There are 3 tiers for the fees 1, International student (if on a permenant residency visa these dont apply to you). 2, Fee paying student & 3, Commonwealth supported place.
The commonwealth supported place is the cheapest by far. Most Uni students are on commonwealth supported places (from what I can gather). They have 3 or 4 tiers (cant remember off hand) the highest being $8330 (ish) per year for students doing medical science/vet science etc (what my son wants to do!).

The Fee paying places, again this is only my impression, tend to be a few per course.
The courses I looked at, at various Uni's only have a few of these and some Uni's dont even have any, its commonwealth or nothing.
The ones I did find are VERY expensive about $24K per year, again for Vet Science BUT the entrance reqirements are lower ie AAB/ABB instead of AAA (A-level) which the commonwealth places require.
These are less than the International fees but only just.

I've told my son he's got to get a commonwealth place otherwise he cant go!
We can just about afford to pay his fees for the first 2 yrs (we validated before July 1st for this reason only) until he becomes a citizen then he can get a loan for the other 3 yrs.
Anyhow, if you're all still awake by now. I hope this has helped a little and that its not to far off the truth.

Sam xxx

[mark.m]

i dont think you can even get a student loan until your a citizen

[Bradburns]

Thanks everyone for that info.

[connaust]

This may be useful I posted elsewhere, commonwealth funded at major universities is probably "tricky" in demand course areas where there may only be up front fee places available.

I would that if you are not sure go TAFE and work, think about it.....via The Australian Qualifications Framework - Qualifications & Education, Training and Career Pathways you can study anytime and anywhere.

"Hello there,

HECS is probably only relevant on commnwealth funded places.

OZ students use the HECS scheme where you can pay or like most do, defer payment till after graduation when you reach a salary threshold
HECS-HELP

The tricky bit is if you are going to be PR or Oz citizen, is getting a place when you have not come through the high school system, i.e. been living outside of Oz, except fee paying :)

Many funded vacancies would be in low demand courses and areas.

Depending upon the university and where your family is living. If in same city living with family is cheaper, most Oz students work part time plus Austudy
Austudy

Living on campus is not cheap unless as a regional university, whcih are more popular now, but most students, at least after 1st year, would share a house or flat with other students, taking into account convenience for transport for uni and work (used cars are cheap)

Can find accommodation in newspaper main classified days, Gumtree for each city, see Sydney Classifieds - jobs in Sydney, flats to rent, Sydney dating or best bet university noticeboards and housing service.

If you need to know who to speak to for place as Oz citizen or PR candidate I can find out easily enough, helped a few.

[Bradburns]

Thanks for that, lots of information for me to read. I'm sure that will answer mine and everyone elses questions on going to uni. Hope i am able to help you when you need it. Lisa.