Fee-free TAFE courses will be expanded across Victoria.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, Federal Minster for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor and Victorian Minister for Training and Skills Gayle Tierney announced almost $107 million in funding to give tens of thousands more people access to education and training in sectors needing workers.
“We saved TAFE in Victoria, rebuilt a crumbling vocational education sector and then strengthened it with free TAFE — now we’re giving even more Victorians the chance to get great skills for a great job,” Ms Allan said.
“Thousands of Victorians have already taken up the chance to go to TAFE for free, and we’ll deliver even more spots to make TAFE a reality for an extra 62,800 Victorians.”
Fee-free TAFE supports training in areas of high demand, provides access to priority cohorts and helps students by removing the financial barriers to study.
So far, fee-free TAFE has attracted over 33,000 Victorian enrolments since the start of 2023, supporting enrolments in care, construction, technology, digital and other national and state priority areas.
Since the program started, more than 152,000 students have saved more than $384 million in tuition fees since the program began in 2019.
GOTAFE, one of the providers of fee-free TAFE, offers four free courses out of its Benalla location, including a Diploma of Nursing, Certificate III in Individual Support and Certificate IV in Mental Health and Outdoor Leadership.
Students undertaking a Diploma of Nursing could save around $15,400 in tuition fees.