VET-FEE Help for aviation being discontinued.

[zingshonp4x]

Hi All

I have been hearing a few different stories that VET-FEE Help for aviation across Australia is being discontinued at the end of this year (2014).

A few people I know enrolled in the program at ECU/ACFT in Perth have been given to the end of this year to finish off their flying training before funding stops.

I have tried to find out more information but the only info I could find was a news article published on ACFTs website:
News and Events | ACFT (http://www.acft.com.au/index.php/about-us/news-and-events/)

Does anyone have any more info, is this only affecting the Universitys who offer post graduate diplomas in aviation as a way to acess fee help?

At least it should slow down the sausage factories turning out Tom Cruze wannabe top gun CPL pilots.

Cheers!

[Diesel Pilot]

zingshonp4x

What's your point? You're trying to find out if VET-FEE HELP is still available for flight training, but are glad if it's coming to an end to prevent people using it for this purpose?

First of all, do your homework. A little research will show you what the what is with VET-FEE HELP, aviation training related providers, eligible courses etc. FYI it's not being discontinued across the board for aviation training at the end of 2014. ECU have discontinued their graduate diploma in flying but are honouring existing students, basically a sunset clause with the program. Currently ECU are/were the only provider of flight training in this capacity in WA.

In my experience ACFT don't know their elbow from their a$$hole. That news update you read on their website was written in June 2013 and simply states that they are going to try and continue the equivalent of the ECU program on their own. However considering they don't offer any official diploma courses (not sure if they're even an RTO) I can't see them obtaining approval anytime soon. Since they were neither helpful or informative when I spoke to them recently about this very topic I can only assume this is the case.

Finally there is nothing wrong with people using VET-FEE HELP to fund their flight training. For some people it is simply the only way possible to do so. People use HECS all the time to obtain degrees for professional qualifications. If it would have been available before I started training I would have jumped at the chance.

Good luck.

[Weetbix.n.Milo]

I thought I might be able to fill in a few gaps here:

Somewhere around the middle of 2013 the Australian Quality Frameworks did an assessment that lead them to the decision that a Graduate Diploma of flying was not on par with other Graduate Diploma studies, so they advised the relevant government body to discontinue providing FEE HELP payments towards all Graduate Diploma of Flying units at all universities across Australia at the end of 2014. This is where the deadline has come from.
There will, however, be some flight schools and other RTOs who will be able to access similar government funding options moving forward. I believe both ACFT and the RACWA are both included in this.