FASEA reveals costs of education pathways

Responding to questions on notice from the House economics committee, the standards authority said that fees for bachelor-level courses and postgraduate studies “vary across universities and higher education providers and are not set by FASEA”.

However, the authority said based on advice from higher education providers in the space, fees for approved undergraduate courses at bachelor level varied from $1,390 to $3,350 per course, depending on whether students were eligible for a Commonwealth-supported place or were paying full fees.

At the same time, a unit of study at a postgraduate level – graduate diploma or higher – cost between $1,300 and $3,375, FASEA said.

The authority also flagged that proposed changes to the Commonwealth grant scheme proposed by the federal government would have an impact on financial planning course fees.

Draft legislation around the changes, which ringfence university fees based on degree type and will see steep increases in costs for some courses, was released by the government last month.

“If the legislation were to pass this would likely mean an increase in the cost to new students in Commonwealth supported places commencing studies in financial advice,” FASEA said.

However, the authority said this would only affect course fees for those in Commonwealth-supported university places and that it could not be sure of the impact on full fee paying students.

“Fees for these students are set by universities and have not been announced for 2021 and beyond,” FASEA said.