JEM44 Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Hi all, we move in May to Perth on PR. my kids are 13&15 and I haven't really thought much about uni fees here in the UK but talking to an American friend last night and their fees are extortionate for her kids and so I'm just wondering roughly what university fees work out at in Aus. Im not sure if they differ if you go to uni in state or out of state (apparently that's makes a big difference in USA) and obviously I guess it is course dependant but can anyone give a rough idea what we will be looking at if my kids do decide to go to Uni. Again assuming fees are fat able per year so for a 3 year course will I need to sell a kidney??? my son thinks he want to study engineering no idea about my daughter (who is now named Princess Bitchface after reading a post describing high school girls here the other day..... nailed it perfectly!!) thanks Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 https://www.unitcosts.uwa.edu.au/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzukiscottie Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 https://www.rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/applying-to-rmit/local-student-applications/fees/fees-by-level-of-study/undergraduate-study/fees-for-commonwealth-supported-students/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 I am doing a humanities BA and it costs me approximately $760 per unit. Something like engineering would be a bit more than this. I am doing part-time, so I do four or five units per year (my uni has three trimesters so I do two in trimesters 1 and 2 and can choose to take a unit over the summer holidays - it will get me there a bit quicker!), but a full time student would usually do 8 units per year. I am a citizen, so I have a Commonwealth supported place, and I could get a FEE-HELP loan to pay for the student contribution. However, I pay for it upfront (which I believe you would have to do as PR rather than citizens - I don't think you can access the FEE-HELP loans) and get a discount for paying upfront. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Perth may be the same as SA in that most students go to a University in their home city, so live at home while they do so. I heard that in the UK a Hall of Residence place can cost the student (or their parents) upwards of 200 pounds a week - which sounds pretty horrendous to me! My daughter rents a room in a shared house here and pays about $150 a week. A three year Arts degree (probably the cheapest) starts at about $6,000 a year - at the moment. If the Libs stay in at the next election though, their plan was to deregulate Uni fees - which so far has not got through the Senate - so once that happens, who knows?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickyNook Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Annual student contributions for 2016 (these are for commonwealth-supported - i.e. subsidised - places): Band 3: Law, dentistry, medicine, veterinary science, accounting, administration, economics, commerce - $10,440 Band 2: Computing, built environment, other health, allied health, engineering, surveying, agriculture, mathematics, statistics, science - $8,917 Band 1: Humanities, behavioural science, social studies, education, clinical psychology, foreign languages, visual and performing arts, nursing - $6,256 http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/helppayingmyfees/csps/pages/student-contribution-amounts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy1 Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 For added information, fees are paid at the start of each semester, there are two semesters a year. Loans are not available for tuition fees to PR's but are available as soon as citizenship is granted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Fees are often not paid until a graduate earns over a certain amount of money. Once earning over the threshold a % of the uni fees is paid in a graduates tax return. So fees may not be paid for many years after graduating and may take many tax years to pay back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy1 Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 (edited) Fees are often not paid until a graduate earns over a certain amount of money. Once earning over the threshold a % of the uni fees is paid in a graduates tax return. So fees may not be paid for many years after graduating and may take many tax years to pay back. A couple of years or so ago the threshold was $45,000, this has gone up slightly since then. The amount taken then goes up in increments depending on salary, so everyone pays a slightly different fee each pay depending on what they individually earn. Fees are taken out automatically each pay. Most grads start paying the fees back straight away, some take longer if they earn below the threshold. This of course only applies to citizens who have taken out fee help loans. Added note (after research), the threshold is now $54,126. The government is trying to reduce this to a lower threshold though. Edited January 29, 2016 by Sammy1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Fees are often not paid until a graduate earns over a certain amount of money. Once earning over the threshold a % of the uni fees is paid in a graduates tax return. So fees may not be paid for many years after graduating and may take many tax years to pay back. This only applies to those who take a FEE-HELP loan which needs to be paid back, I think. It won't apply if the OP is PR because you have to be a citizen to take a FEE-HELP loan. PR uni students need to pay the student contribution (fees) upfront each semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newjez Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Perth may be the same as SA in that most students go to a University in their home city, so live at home while they do so. I heard that in the UK a Hall of Residence place can cost the student (or their parents) upwards of 200 pounds a week - which sounds pretty horrendous to me! My daughter rents a room in a shared house here and pays about $150 a week. A three year Arts degree (probably the cheapest) starts at about $6,000 a year - at the moment. If the Libs stay in at the next election though, their plan was to deregulate Uni fees - which so far has not got through the Senate - so once that happens, who knows?! Looks about half the UK ATM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tina0101 Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 We have PR and son is starting a Business degree at QUT. Fees are $5200 a semester, to be paid upfront in March and then same again in August. Text books for a semester are $500 (will be looking second hand as that is extortionate for 6 months study!). On PR you get no financial assistance. At all. I even rang to check (you don't ask, you don't get) and was very politely told no!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newjez Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 We have PR and son is starting a Business degree at QUT. Fees are $5200 a semester, to be paid upfront in March and then same again in August. Text books for a semester are $500 (will be looking second hand as that is extortionate for 6 months study!). On PR you get no financial assistance. At all. I even rang to check (you don't ask, you don't get) and was very politely told no!! Be careful with second hand books, and worth checking they actually need the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newjez Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Do citizens get any financial help? I remember getting austudy when I was at university. It helped heaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Do citizens get any financial help? I remember getting austudy when I was at university. It helped heaps. They can apply for Youth Allowance - as a student is considered dependent on their parents, you will need to provide information on the parents' earnings and assets (made us laugh as they wanted to know the market value of all furnishings and fittings in the house, as well as amount of cash in your wallet and value of the clothes in your wardrobe - I'm hoping they took pity on us when we gave them the figures!) for eligibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Do citizens get any financial help? I remember getting austudy when I was at university. It helped heaps. Citizens can get HECS or VET fees, same idea as student loans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy1 Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 (edited) Do citizens get any financial help? I remember getting austudy when I was at university. It helped heaps. Yes, Austudy is still paid to students over the age of 25 (both PR and citizens) for living costs. They also get the hecs/fee-help for tuition (citizens only). Edited January 30, 2016 by Sammy1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy1 Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 We have PR and son is starting a Business degree at QUT. Fees are $5200 a semester, to be paid upfront in March and then same again in August. Text books for a semester are $500 (will be looking second hand as that is extortionate for 6 months study!). On PR you get no financial assistance. At all. I even rang to check (you don't ask, you don't get) and was very politely told no!! Definitely use second hand books. Most universities have secondhand bookshops on campus, there are also numerous university facebook pages where students sell their books each semester. Ebay is an excllent source as well. Many books are also available on google scholar and many universities have books completely online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled Pink Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 I'd definitely check out second hand books! It may not be the current edition but depending on the subject it may not matter much at all... I used a number of second hand - the human anatomy really doesn't seem to change much from one year to the next! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEM44 Posted January 30, 2016 Author Share Posted January 30, 2016 Thank you everyone for your help. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 You can get second-hand books from Fishpond and Coop bookshops too, and I also found a website called StudentVIP yesterday which has books for sale on it. The books are sorted by unit, so you search for your uni and the unit code and the books come up. I wish I'd found it before I bought this semester's books! Fishpond and Coop email me every so often to see if I'd like to resell my used books. Unfortunately, I am a prolific book margin note-maker, so my books are unsuitable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tina0101 Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 Found Student VIP as well yesterday!! $160 for a new text book or $50 second hand - it's a no-brainer really!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 Do you buy other stuff second hand, eg clothes ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 I had a bit of a traumatic experience with charity shop/second-hand clothing as a child, which gave me a bit of a phobia about buying clothes/shoes that are pre-used! Having said that, aside from basic stuff like undies, and jeans/swimming cossies which are too difficult to get right, I make clothes for the kids and myself which I like to do because they are usually cheaper and a bit different to what everyone else wears. I sometimes pick up things second hand for the house or garden and we have some second-hand camping equipment. OH bought a $1000 bike last weekend for $300 from a guy that had bought it six months ago, ridden it a handful of times and then stuck it in his garage. OH will use it for commuting to the train station, so it will get plenty of use now! I don't mind second-hand books and often buy books at library sales and things. If I can find my uni books second hand I will get them, if not I'll buy them new. For novels and things that I am only likely to read once I tend to use the library. Our local library is pretty good at getting things in for me to borrow from uni library/other area library collections when I need to research for assignments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newjez Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 Found Student VIP as well yesterday!! $160 for a new text book or $50 second hand - it's a no-brainer really!!! Worth checking with the course coordinator as to whether the book is actually used. I did pay good money for books which were hardly opened. University usually have pretty good library too. Electronic versions are also a possibility. With second hand, it is also worth checking with the course coordinator. Sometimes texts can be massively overhauled and are no longer relevant. Sometimes they are a bargain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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