Condition SAC097: AMFM benchmark fees for courses with fee discounts

Type:

Rule or condition

Where different fees are charged, the highest fee/course costs that any group of learners may be required to pay to the tertiary education organisation is to be reported as the benchmark fee.

A tertiary education organisation (TEO) cannot set a benchmark fee that is higher than the highest fee ever charged to an intake of learners.

Fee discounts

If a tertiary education organisation discounts the fee/course costs for all learners in a course for a calendar year (whether or not they increase their listed or undiscounted fee/course costs), the discounted fee/course costs must be reported for Annual Maximum Fee Movement reporting and monitoring purposes.

Subject to the rules below a TEO’s 2011 course fee must be, as a maximum, based on the course’s 2010 fee/course costs that have actually been charged to learners if it has done one of the following:

• Increased its fees actually charged to learners under the AFML in 2010
• Not increased its fees actually charged to learners in 2010
• Reduced its fees in 2010 and has not advertised a normal fee or a discount to that fee

A TEO charging a discounted fee (including a zero fee) to counter competition from low or zero-fee setting by another TEO must obtain permission from the TEC to set its 2010 benchmark higher than specified above. This will be limited to the fee charged immediately before the competitive situation arose.