Lived Experience Forum

[TAB]

@PinkFlamingo  I could have got fee free degree, friend of a friend in early 20s did. but I waited another 10 or so years til my head was screwed on enough to try it. and paid, although less than it is now.

I was thinking about doing qual in Library studies going back a few years. cheapest option seemed to be like $10k, poss even 20.

Have ended up in Cert IV TAE thru private provider, but govt subsidies paying over 80% of fees and owing nothing. No debt.

[Glisten]

@PinkFlamingo  much respect for you!  For me, finding people like you, is like finding gold.

G

[PinkFlamingo]

That’s really good @TAB 🌺🙂

mum glad you don’t carry huge debts from uni degrees… I paid I think all up $70,000 for undergrad, and post grad will cost me around $27,000 (excluding indexing). 
however I’ve just found out that my current post grad may not be covered by a govt HELP debt, and with the inability to go out and get a job due to lack of quals and immune disease, I have no way to come up with $10,000 a year up front. It looks like I’ll be dropping out very soon. I need this qual to work from home, so it’s kind of catch 22 to not have access to the education I need to get the job I need to pay for the education I need… 

Lovely place to be, isn’t it 😉

I hope your studies are going well 🙂🌺

[TAB]

I would be looking at ways of getting around things in your situation @PinkFlamingo ..change job, change course , whatever, ask about grants , dunno.

my HECs was like $17k I think. paid it all off within 5 years of finishing as went back to trade and went to mines. However, I still owe money on HELP. that was over $50k at one stage. A lovely little scheme where they made you borrow to get paid Austudy. was a total scam, I was not fussed at the time, wanted money to live on. say if yr payment was $200 a week, you apply for a loan to borrow to get another 200 a week, except had half had to go to govt to pay what they would have paid you. sounds like some uber scheme only a demented public servant who genuinely hates people could come up with , like robo, job network, etc etc

[PinkFlamingo]

Thanks heaps @Glisten 🫂💜🙂🌺

[PinkFlamingo]

Done all that @TAB 🙂

I’m already on the last path of opportunity here where I’m at. 
I sold my former house to pay for my education debt back then at undergrad, just because I was tired of being ransacked by the system - similar to what you’ve explained. 
I worked my butt off to buy another, but I am no way physically well enough to sell this busted piece of crap I live in now, and buy the education, while finding somewhere safe and stable to live (I have health issues where I rely on uninterrupted power otherwise I could be in a situation of being a free spirit if I lose power overnight, if you get my meaning…no place I have ever rented - and I rented over 27 different places over 19 years - has ever considered putting life sustaining safety measures for uninterrupted power supply in place for a tenant, and I refuse to pay for installation when they could then kick me out and I’d have to pay all over again somewhere else..these power systems cost upwards of $20,000 each, no subsidies available. I already have $48,000 medical equipment in the house, which I need to replace each 5 years at my own full cost, so paying landlords for fancy upgrades with no assurance of housing security I just can’t afford). 
Wouldn’t it be so nice if things were fair and just, is something I often wonder, but can never actually find a way to make happen 🌺💜🙂

[Glisten]

@PinkFlamingo  So frustrating that you will have to drop out.

You have already done most of the academic heavy lifting.

It is in the university’s and government’s best interests to get you qualified and in a position that supports you.

G

[TAB]

yeah I dont know @PinkFlamingo  not sure how anyone could manage that.

[Glisten]

@PinkFlamingo  So sad to read about your house and the lack of secure power, that you need to survive.

Your situation is an example of why I would love to put a team together to MacGyver something safe for your needs.

Are you in SA?

G

[PinkFlamingo]

Indeed @Glisten 🙂

If I didn’t have huge medical expenses and ludicrous life sustaining medical equipment costs, I might be able to squeeze it, but currently just to sustain the ongoing equipment costs I live like a pauper. 
It would completely be in their best interests to allow me to accumulate a HELP debt so I can become more independent and much less reliant on the woefully inadequate and imho judgy welfare systems… but, no. Let’s keep her where she is, struggling financially just to afford the equipment that she needs to keep herself alive, hehe. And there’s the cynic! 🤭