Job Discussion Forums

[Aramas]

I've been sorting out my enrollment at Macquarie uni, and our beloved fuhrer and his minions have actually done something wonderful!

here's a cut and paste from the OLA portal at
http://www.ola.edu.au/

Introducing FEE-HELP

From Study Period One 2005, OLA students will have access to a new deferred payment scheme called FEE-HELP, replacing OLDPS. Features of the new scheme include:

* No gap fee
* Available for undergraduate and postgraduate study
* Covers up to $50,000 of study - no limit on the number of units
* No limit on the number of units per year
* Can be used for single units1
* Pass rate eligibility does not come into effect until eight units have been completed
* Defer part or all of the unit fee
* Practicum fees may be deferred also

For more information on FEE-HELP, visit www.goingtouni.gov.au.
Changes to Fees in 2005

* Library membership is included in the unit fee - all students will automatically have library access
* Practicum costs are covered by the unit fee
* No overseas service fee for Australians, New Zealanders or Australian permanent residents studying overseas.
* Overseas (international) student fee of $195


So what does it all mean? Aussies and Kiwis can do a Bachelor's or Master's degree through OLA and not have to pay anything at all up front. We also miss out on the 25% HECS hike next year. At around $500AUD per unit the $50k limit allows up to 100 units! That's enough for FOUR degrees! Eruditer and eruditer!

But wait! There's more!

Full time external students are also eligible for AuStudy! We can live anywhere in the world, study our little buttocks off and collect around $800AUD each month! OMFG! Brazil here I come!

This is the first good thing about being an Australian in years! It's even better for Kiwis - they get the freebies and get to keep their self respect! No concentration camps, complicity in torture, mass-murder or a*se-licking required! Maybe there are a few shreds of the 'Lucky Country' left., but the Kiwis have 'God's Own Country' and the luck!

You have to love socialism Some days are just worth getting out of bed for.

[sojourner]

I was just wondering whether NZ,itself,has a deferred fees payments system similar to Aust's HECS/PELS ? If so,are Aussies permitted to enrol in Kiwi uni courses under deferred payments options ?

BTW,are you aware that once your income reaches,I think,A$31 K,your annual tax bill goes up ? But,if you remain in China never earning more than the equivalent of A$15 K pa,then you're got nothing to worry about !

On the question of Kiwis being allowed to enrol in Australian uni courses - thus, taking advantage of our deferred payments systems - would imply,I'd imagine, that there would need to be a trans-Tasman income tax agreement if the students in question are no longer residing in Australia ? Does anyone have any idea when that agreement was signed ? I would like to know what else the agreement in question covers,especially as to whether it contains provisions requiring employers in both countries to provide details of their employees' earnings to the tax authorities of BOTH countries ? Alternately,the ATO may be provided with the power to supply info to NZ's Dept of Inland Revenue,and vice-a-versa.Whatever the means used to supply one national's earnings' details to a government agency of ANOTHER country, one could just imagine the possible constitutional implications ! Or, would there be ? Any (ex) international tax lawyers out there in ESL land ?

Re Austudy,I've always been led to believe that it only applies for undergraduate programmes.Or,has this been changed ? Unfortunately,I was unable to open your link.

Peter

[deezy]

If you are on Austudy (as I am - doing an online course) and out of the country for more than 13 weeks (it used to be 26 weeks) you now lose the Austudy unless your time overseas relates to the course you are taking.

The rule changed on 1st July, I came to China on 1st June, so am still eligible for the 26 weeks as long as I'm not earning (which I'm not at the moment because of injury). Check out the centrelink site. If I'm wrong please let me know as on this occasion I'd LOVE to be wrong!

[sojourner]

Deezy,

I'm wondering how the agency which pays Austudy (Centrelink ? DEYA ?) would know that you have left the country ? Is there some link between the Dept of Immigration's airport departure database,and the computers of either Centrelink or DEYA ?

BTW,are you enrolled in an undergraduate or a postgraduate programme ? As I'm currently enrolled in UNE's online MA(Applied Linguistics) programme,I wouldn't mind being on Austudy - would help supplement my meagre 5000 RMB (just under A$1000) per month uni job;even if for just a few months during the year ! Dream on,Peter !

Peter

[deezy]

Hiya
I tell ya, Centrelink knew ALL about me when I went in to get my Austudy approved. What bank accounts I had, what bank accounts they thought I still had! Big brother is alive and kicking downunder.

I'm on an undergraduate course, which is 'Austudy approved'. You need to find out whether the course you are on is approved. You can earn up to $6000 (don't quote me, that may be wrong) and still get your Austudy. It may be more, it may be less.

As for how 'they' know....I don't know. I wish I did. I am going back to Melbourne for 3 weeks at Xmas, then returning to China, and would love to be able to continue getting the $$$$$s, but I'm concerned they may come down real heavy on me if I don't tell them I'm returning, (and they find out!) and I won't be eligible after April.

Good luck...whatever!

[Ki]

Austudy is not available for Masters students. However Newstart is. Problems with Newstart is (1) you cannot be overseas, (2) when you initially apply you aren't allowed to study full-time. After a few months you are then able to study for a course less than 12 months in duration. After 6/7 months you are required to do a mutual obligation activity such as study. Or, you could not tell anyone you study and 'look for work' every two weeks. Just some options for Aussies.

Ki.

[Gordon]

At least you guys have some options. You don't know how lucky you are to be an Oz student. I pay over 4 times more than my Oz friend in the same Oz uni program. In Canada, many of the post-grad programs are the same whether you're Cdn or Tasmanian (or slightly cheaper).

[Aramas]

Yeah, the restrictions with AuStudy would be annoying. Just tell them you can't afford to live in Australia on AuStudy - I certainly couldn't. OLA has 13 week semesters, so it would probably be feasible to live on a beach is SE Asia and fly back four times a year. It's under $1000 return and I'm told you can get a room in Bali for $20 a month - lol.

I wasn't going to bother with AuStudy anyway, but it's good if you can get it. Whatever you do, don't fall into the clutches of the privatised unemployment industry. Bloody nazis. It seems that their only function is to harrass and humiliate people until they either spit the dummy and go to prison, or find a sugar daddy/mummy and opt out of the system. That's how our beloved fuhrer got unemployment down. There are more unemployed people now than there have ever been, but many fell through the gaping holes into oblivion, and so aren't part of the statistics anymore. Think of the unemployed as a concentration camp's version of outpatients.

Last year I was at uni and looking for a night job. During the course of the year I applied for over 200 jobs through the privatised unemployment industry and didn't even get a single interview. I applied for 2 jobs through newspaper ads and 1 through word-of-mouth and got 3 interviews and 3 job offers. There's something wrong with that scenario.

[deezy]

Aramis, you're so right about the humiliation dished out. My husband lost a top job (at Telstra) and when he went to Centrelink he was talked down to, treated like scum, by a young girl who had probably just got her Degree in Social Studies or something. It got so bad for him that he got physically sick when he had to go and 'get his dose of humiliation'.

I was on sickness benefit for a while, and fortunately his experience prepared me, so I went there expecting to be humiliated, etc.. I tried to 'rise above' - pretended I was doing a study on the interpersonal skills of a Centrelink 'clerk'. However, at one point I was reduced to tears by the whole procedure, and the 'clerk' just stared at me.

I was so keen to get off the benefits system, and not have to keep visiting, that I found a course to take, which then got me Austudy so I don't have to keep going to visit (which is a good thing as I'm in China!).

As for the 13 week thing...I think you have to be back in Australia for more than just a visit to keep getting the money. Don't quote me...I think the centrelink site tells all.

[Ki]

Visiting centrelink is humiliating and depressing. Sure, some of the people who work there do treat you badly and some don't. Some clients treat them badly and some don't. Maybe if they are treating you like scum because they have dealt with people treating them this way all day and are on their defencive. Dealing with one more trivial matter is just too much effort. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not on their side. Whenever I have to deal with centrelink I always try to be nice and polite, they appreciate these superficialities and they help to ensure that I am not scrutinised too much.

I hate the system itself. It reduces me to tears as well. Often there is some sort of leeway in the system for the people to work there but this is at there discretion. That is why no two centrelink workers can ever agree on something. Ah the system, centrelink IS working for the dole. I remember on one episode of 'Seinfeld' where for George linked being unemployed to a full time job.