The Government wants to charge higher education providers for access to the HELP loan scheme, as a cost recovery measure. Under the Commonwealth’s charging framework, where specific demand for a government activity is created by identifiable individuals or groups, they should be charged for it.
In this submission, Grattan Institute’s Higher Education Program Director Andrew Norton argues that HELP is a government program established to benefit students. The Commonwealth Government already outsources a large proportion of HELP’s administrative costs to higher education providers, who manage the process of students applying for HELP. It should not require them to pay for the Department’s administrative costs as well.
If there is be any charge for using HELP, students should pay it.