Australian colleges not refunding fees to Indian students

MELBOURNE - Many students from India’s Punjab state are facing frustration as they are being denied fee refunds by some colleges in Australia, and an educational consultant said that “we are sick and tired”.

The Indian students are seeking fee refunds as their visa applications were turned down. Many of the applicants had also decided to withdraw from the visa application process for various reasons.

Despite promises by the Australian government to make the fee refund from the ESOS Assurance Fund, the students concerned are yet to get their money back.

The ESOS Assurance Fund is managed by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

“We are sick and tired of Australian and UK governments preaching to us about ethical practices while denying fees refunds to overseas students whose visa applications have been refused,” Harpreet Kamboj, an education consultant from Mohali in Punjab, told IANS.

“A number of colleges sitting on the hard-earned money of our clients are not being forced by the Australian government to make the refund as per the law while student visas are being refused for trivial reasons,” added Kamboj, who was here recently to pursue refund applications with Hales Institute in Melbourne.

According to the Australian law regulating overseas students, the college concerned should make the refund within 28 days of getting relevant information from a student.

Vipin Bajaj, another educational consultant from Mohali, said: “The Australian government has failed Indian students once again by not paying out of the ESOS Assurance Fund.”

“ESOS Assurance Fund managers are making payments to adjust those overseas students who are already in Australia and whose colleges have gone bankrupt in the recent past,” said Bajaj.