EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Guidelines issued under subsection 238-10 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003
Amendment No.5 to the Other Grants Guidelines 2006
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Education, Science and Training
Subject:- Higher Education Support Act 2003
Amendment No.5 to the Other Grants Guidelines 2006
Authority
Section 238-10 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (the Act) provides that the Minister may make guidelines for the purposes of the Act. In particular, section 238-10 specifies that the Minister may make the Other Grants Guidelines to give effect to matters set out in Part 2-3 of the Act.
Section 41-15 of the Act provides that the Other Grants Guidelines may specify one or more programmes under which grants for particular purposes specified in the table in subsection
41-10(1) are to be paid
Purpose and operation
These Guidelines amend the Higher Education Support Act 2003 - Other Grants Guidelines 2006 (Other Grants Guidelines 2006) registered on 22 November 2006 (see F2006L03785) and which commenced on 23 November 2006. The Guidelines amend the Other Grants Guidelines 2006 for the fifth time.
The purpose of this amendment is to add a new Chapter 12 to the Guidelines to specify the requirements relating to the Transitional Costs Program.
Chapter 12, Grants to assist with the transitional costs of changes to maximum student contribution amounts, specifies that the Transitional Costs Program is a program under which grants can be paid for the purposes of assisting with the costs of changes to maximum student contribution amounts announced in the 2007-08 Budget, the program objectives, eligibility and grant amounts.
As part of the Realising Our Potential package in the 2007-08 Budget, the Australian Government aligned the funding arrangements for Commonwealth supported places in accounting, administration, economics and commerce with those for law. The Commonwealth Grant Scheme (CGS) funding rate for accounting and related disciplines will be $1,674 for each equivalent full-time student load in 2008 and the maximum student contribution providers can charge will be $8,499.
Any changes to student contributions will affect students who commence studying at higher education providers on or after 1 January 2008. Commonwealth supported students studying before this date will be able to continue under existing arrangements until the end of 2012.
To assist higher education providers with the transitional costs associated with these changed funding arrangements for accounting and related disciplines, the Australian Government will be providing funding for a Transitional Costs Program from 2008. The program will compensate providers for receiving a lower Commonwealth contribution amount under the CGS for accounting and related disciplines and not being able to charge continuing students a higher student contribution amount to make up the difference between the new and old CGS amounts.
The new Chapter 12 specifies which higher education providers will be eligible for the Transitional Costs Program and how the amount of the grant will be determined for each eligible higher education provider.
Commencement
The Guidelines commence on the day after the day on which the guidelines are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
Consultation
The higher education sector was consulted extensively on this amendment. On 6 July 2007, the draft amendment was sent to Universities Australia, the Australian Technology Network, the Group of Eight and the Innovative Research Universities Australia. Comments on the draft amendment were then sought from the sector more broadly through the Backing Australia’s Future – Realising our Potential Newsletter No. 27 in August 2007. Four comments were received during the consultation process, each of which supported the draft amendment.