The federal government has a “post-school study guide”  on-line, which is written with the verve of a dishwasher maintenance manual.

It is also not especially encouraging for young people wondering what study costs. For example, it states “if you apply at a public university, you might be able to enrol in a Commonwealth supported place.” Ye gods – even with demand driven funding gone, “might” is a bit over-cautious.

The guide also ignores the few students for whom study just got cheaper – warning government loans to attend private higher education providers also incur a loan fee. And so they do, apart from those at private universities. They are no longer slugged with the loan fee following the successful Cory Bernardi amendment to last month’s loan repayment legislation (CMM August 16).