University students over-enrolling in subjects,amassing major debts and consistently failing,face strict new requirements.Credit:Louise Kennerley
Under the changes,universities will face tougher requirements to verify people's academic suitability for their chosen courses and monitor their ongoing progress. Students will also be able to wipe their debts for subjects when their progress has been harmed by special circumstances.
"These measures will ensure students can't take on a study load they won't complete,leaving them without a qualification but a large debt,"Education Minister Dan Tehan said.
Under the overhaul,a student who fails half of their first eight subjects in a degree will lose access to a government-subsidised place and HELP loans. However,higher education providers will have discretion to maintain the students'access to funding if they can demonstrate their performance was affected by exceptional circumstances.
The Department of Education,Skills and Employment estimates the change will affect about 2500 people annually.
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The crackdown is targeted at extreme examples of students enrolling in an unreasonable number of courses at multiple institutions,persistently failing and amassing extraordinary HELP debts. In one case,a person enrolled in 44 courses with 26 providers,accruing a debt of $663,000 and attaining no qualifications. Another person enrolled in 11 courses at four institutions,accruing $455,000 in debt and completing three courses.
"The lack of transparency of a student's enrolment has allowed some non-genuine students to enrol and re-enrol at multiple providers at the same time,"Mr Tehan said.