Phoenix Institute Issues - Any advice

pat0809 on 23/09/2015 - 18:11
Last edited 23/09/2015 - 18:11

I was just chatting with my sister on skype and she mentioned to me that she has started studying online courses through the Phoenix Institute. I had never heard of this school before so as soon as we finished chatting I googled the school and found several articles about the school basically being a get rich quick scam. Here is one of the articles http://www.smh.com.au/national/phoenix-institute-under-inves…

I don't know much more about the course, her agreement or anything like that but I know she is getting a laptop out of it and has only been studying for 1 week. She is still (somehow) completely unaware of the shadiness of this company. I'm pretty sure she just signed up because she wanted a free laptop.

Anyway, my question is, do you think there is a way for her to get out of this situation? Is she able to quit this course without having to pay for it?

Any help would be appreciated.

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Comments

  • spackbace on 23/09/2015 - 18:23
    +2

    Might wanna see if she's inadvertently signed up to large HECS debt over it… :/

    • spackbace on 23/09/2015 - 18:28
      +1

      http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/helppayingmyfees…

      The census date is the last day you can submit your Request for Commonwealth assistance form (to access a Commonwealth supported place or a HELP loan) or withdraw your enrolment without incurring the fees or a HELP debt. If you do not submit your form by the census date, you will not be eligible to access a HELP loan for that study period.

      The census date must be at least 20% of the way through the study period for that unit. Each provider is responsible for setting their own census dates, so this date will vary across different courses and different providers.

      Given she's 1 week in, have a good look over her agreement and costings, see whether she really wants to repay this debt later. She can withdraw without owing anything if she gets out very soon!

    • pat0809 on 23/09/2015 - 18:29

      I'm guessing she has. That's why I'm trying to figure out if there is a way out of it for her. I just found out that they went door knocking at her house and offered her the course. I'm wondering if she could say they pressured her into signing up or something.

    • spackbace on 23/09/2015 - 18:44
      +1

      http://mytimelearning.com.au/

      http://mytimelearning.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/onli…

      Census Date: First day of the month following enrolment
      AND
      Census Date: First day of the month following enrolment

      That's for both courses.

      Get her out, get her out now unless she wants to have a $21,000 + $18,000 debt!

      • pat0809 on 23/09/2015 - 18:48
        +2

        Thanks so much for your help. I'm going to get her out of those courses whether she wants to or not! I really appreciate your help. I had no idea what to do about any of it.

        • spackbace on 23/09/2015 - 18:59

          All good. Hopefully the school won't hold onto the required forms or anything (unfortunately it looks like you need to get the forms from them, no one else!)

        • spackbace on 23/09/2015 - 19:00

          Withdrawal policy

          Bam!

          If, on or before a census date, a student gives notice to MyTime Learning that he or she wishes to withdraw from a
          VET unit of study or cancel his or her enrolment in the VET unit of study or VET course of study or cancel their
          request for Commonwealth assistance, MyTime Learning ensure the student is not enrolled in that VET unit of study
          or VET course of study from the time of notification.

        • pat0809 on 23/09/2015 - 23:46

          @Spackbace: So apparently she enrolled on August 31st…..I'm guessing it might be too late for her to be able to do anything?

        • spackbace on 23/09/2015 - 23:52

          @pat0809:

          Oh no :/ You could argue she could've only cancelled the next day to abide by that Census date. Or you could complain loudly that it's not >20% of the way through.

          Either way, it may be best to pull out anyway, minimise the damage. Sure there's a chance she might have a minor debt, but it's better than carrying a HECS debt she didn't plan on!

          I'm assuming she would've had to sign off on documents for the Fee Help with totals clearly shown, but she may have been blind-sided by their sales spiel.

        • pat0809 on 24/09/2015 - 00:01
          +1

          @Spackbace: I will try talk to her tomorrow. I'm in Japan so it's hard to sort all this stuff out while I'm here. Hopefully we can do something to stop her getting the huge debt.

        • Gershom on 24/09/2015 - 09:58

          I'm going to get her out of those courses whether she wants to or not!

          Is she not an adult? Can she not make her own decisions? If she's not an adult then any contract has no legal standing, If she is an adult, why are you messing with her life? Don't we all make our own decisions, and take responsibility for them?

      • Forenti on 23/09/2015 - 22:26
        +1

        How are they allowed to have a census date that close to enrolment after that 20% census date rule you posted? It could theoretically only be 1 or 2 days later right?

        • spackbace on 23/09/2015 - 23:52

          I'm not sure, and it appears to be worst case scenario in OPs situation :/

        • Crazy Diamond on 23/09/2015 - 23:57

          I think she'll be ok, if you go back to the second link to census dates which spackbace kindly linked to above, he/she has actually quoted the course commencement date not the census date. Census dates look to be in months 2, 3, 8, 12 etc. So plenty of time o get out.

          But get out now!

  • [Deactivated] on 26/09/2015 - 10:21
    +1

    These "private colleges" are such scum and I hate them.

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