Mechanist does not collect more than $1500 in prepaid fees (fees in advance) from students for any students. From time to time however a refund may be required for specific student cases. Refund information and arrangements are made available to clients prior to enrolment through:
- Mechanist’s relevant handbook for each stakeholder’s group;
- Mechanist website; and
- As a part of the Course Fees Agreement and Statement of Fees completed with the client prior to enrolment.
Refunds may be paid automatically or sought and negotiated on an individual basis with Mechanist on a case by case basis.
Mechanist has publicly published on its website and makes students aware of this Refund Policy before enrolment.
Enrolment Fees
Enrolment fees paid for any course service cover administrative components of service provision and are often mandatory fees in the cases of publicly funded course services. In these cases, enrolment fees are non-refundable once the course service has commenced
Co-enrolments
Mechanist charges a fee for each government subsidised course that a student enrols in, as relevant to the relevant government contractual requirements.
Refunds Prior to Course Services Commencement or Services Termination
Mechanist’s general refund arrangements for all clients and all course services are as follows:
| Refund Arrangements | |
|---|---|
| Fee for Service Course Services | |
| Withdrawal prior to course commencement. | Full refund of course services fees paid. |
| Withdrawal after course commencement. | No refund available on administration fees, materials fees or other ancillary fees.
Tuition fees may be refunded for any portion of the course not commenced at the time of withdrawal, provided that the student provides a signed application for withdrawal and there are no outstanding fees owed by the student. Any fees or charges owed by the student at the time of withdrawal will be offset against any amount due in refund to the student. |
| Government Subsidised Course Services | |
| Withdrawal prior to course commencement. | Full refund of course services fees paid. |
| Withdrawal after commencement. | No refund available on administration fees, materials fees, RPL application fees or other ancillary fees.
Tuition fees may be refunded for any portion of the course not commenced at the time of withdrawal, provided that the student provides a signed application for withdrawal and there are no outstanding fees owed by the student. Any fees or charges owed by the student at the time of withdrawal will be offset against any amount due in refund to the student. |
Refunds Due to Non-Provision of Services
Course fees are to be refunded in full if Mechanist is unable to commence the course service as agreed due to a lack of minimum student numbers or unforeseen circumstances.
Where Mechanist is unable to complete the course services due to unforeseen circumstances or closure, any course services fees are refunded on a pro-rata basis, with comparison of the course fees paid against the units of competency where services have been delivered.
Where there is an instance of Mechanist default due to unforeseen circumstances, Mechanist will endeavour to arrange for another course, or part of a course, to be provided to students at no (extra) cost to the student as an alternative to a refund. Where the student agrees to this arrangement, Mechanist will not refund fees paid.
| Refund Arrangements | |
| Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and/or Credit Transfer (CT) has been granted. | Pro-rata refund paid based on a calculation of the number of units that have received RPL or CT results and the fees paid to date. |
| Mechanist is unable to commence the course for which the original enrolment and payment has been made. | Full refund or alternative placement in a course, as per the clients’ preference. |
| Mechanist is unable to continue to deliver the course as agreed. | Partial refund or alternative placement in a course, as per the clients’ preference. |
Refunds Due to Client Request / Hardship Application
Students may have extenuating circumstances that prevent them from attending scheduled course dates that may include but are not limited to illness, family or personal matters, or other reasons that are out of the ordinary. Where evidence can be successfully provided to support the student’s circumstances, course service fees may either be transferred to the next available course where applicable, or a refund of unused course fees will be issued.
This process of assessing the extenuating circumstances rests with the Chief Executive Officer and shall be assessed on a case by case situation.
Where delivery has commenced, course fees have been paid and a client believes a special circumstance refund is warranted, the client may apply for a refund in writing to:
Chief Executive Officer
1300 304 867
All refund applications are assessed and processed within fourteen (14) days of the application being placed. The client will be advised in writing of the outcome of their application, including reasons for refusing a refund in cases where this occurs.
Mechanist does not typically provide a refund in cases where a student has withdrawn from a qualification but has completed all the requirements for a lower level qualification, which attracted a lower student fee.
All clients have the right to appeal a refund decision made by Mechanist. Please refer to the Complaints policy for further information.
Third Party Refunds
If course services fees have been paid to Mechanist by a third party, such as an employer, any refunds payable will be remitted to that third party.