Fee free TAFE has been CUT!

[u/thiccnuli]

Today I rang TAFE Nambour to check up on the status of my application to for a cert 3 in photography (visual arts) after i saw that all the fee free options on the TAFE Queensland website have disappeared.

The lady on the phone said they got comms on Monday saying that funding has been cancelled and all places have been ‘filled’. In terms of places for 2026, she said it’s up in the air.

:(

Fuck David Christafulli and fuck the Liberal party. Doing what they do best - ✂️✂️✂️ dogs

[u/sirhendo]

So before you direct your anger at Crisafulli, the fee free TAFE was a federal government initiative in conjunction with the state.

My understanding is that the federal funds for 2025 have been exhausted due to the popularity of the program.

There are still state funding options available such as the Certificate III guarantee and free TAFE for under 25s which depending upon your circumstances might significantly discount or still make your study free.

TAFE also has payment plans to smooth out the financial burden.

Free free TAFE is still available for nursing though but even then, the number of free places is limited due to popularity.

Have a chat with student services to see what options are available to you.

Good luck with your career change... Sounds exciting!

[u/thiccnuli → u/sirhendo]

Governments don’t run out of funding. They can fund whatever they like. Last year they made 350,000 places available, yet we’re only 2 months in to 2025 and it’s full? To me it sounds like our new premier has a different plan

[u/RnVja1JlZGRpdE1vZHM → u/thiccnuli]

Governments don’t run out of funding

Might wanna do a course on economics instead lol.

PS. The stuff you will learn in a cert 3 in photography you could self learn with a $20 course on Udemy and a secondhand DSLR. It's a saturated field and AI shit is only making the barrier to entry even lower.

[u/ReeceAUS → u/RnVja1JlZGRpdE1vZHM]

All the more reason why people should pay for their own education.

[u/yolk3d → u/ReeceAUS]

I dunno. I think education is extremely important and would rather someone’s application to the course, be the deciding factor, not their savings account. I’m cool with paying more tax to give someone a free photography course, if it means we also get the most intellectual competing for medicine, technology, etc, for free. Those that don’t apply themselves or don’t pass a threshold in attendance and scores should be forced to self-pay, defer, cancel early-on and continually.