Lawson College Dandenong: Former students allege deportation threats, poor facilities
A Dandenong school has come under fire after several allegations from international students of threats of deportation, exorbitant fees and poor facilities. But the school has hit back, with its lawyers dismissing the claims as “scurrilous and baseless”.
South East
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A Dandenong training college is being accused of luring international students to enrol in courses, only for them to be allegedly slugged with exorbitant fees, poor facilities and threats of deportation.
A Leader investigation can reveal several students from Lawson College on 53-59 Walker St, Dandenong, have come forward saying they have been feeling “stressed”, “threatened” and “living in fear of being deported” after studying at the school.
Former student Christian Villanueva, 29, who began studying a business leadership course, in July 2018, said he was left feeling “threatened” after his experience at the school.
“I was very unhappy with the teaching and facilities, it was very small, we didn’t have many computers and they were old. We needed to bring our own laptops,” Mr Villanueva said.
“I was in shock because this is not what we were shown in the Philippines, I told the owner I don’t want to do this course anymore. I’m not happy and they told me I can’t do that as my main course is at the end of the package.”
Mr Villanueva said when he decided to leave the school after eight months, he was asked to attend a meeting with the school’s leadership team, which left him very distraught.
“Upon arriving to the meeting they said to me they needed my mobile phone. I felt very scared and threatened, I don’t know why they needed to take my phone.
“They told me I needed to pay the rest of my course, I had already paid $12,000, I said how can I pay the rest of this amount?, I am alone.”
“They told me ‘if you don’t pay we’ll report you to the embassy’, I told them ‘yes report me — I can’t pay that much money’.”
He said since leaving the school he had been sent several emails from debt collectors.
“They asked me to pay $6000, I left the college and they’re still charging me penalties,” he said.
The Leader is not suggesting the accusations are true, only that they have been made.
A woman, 30, who asked not to be named for fear of being deported, said she has been left with severe anxiety and depression after studying at the school for five months.
She said when she arrived at the school, she was left “very shocked” by the school’s facilities.
“I started a Diploma of Business Management in May 2019, I was out of pocket almost $6000 for course fees and I was shocked by the facilities upon arrival,” she said.
“The building and classrooms were so small for that amount of high tuition fees.
“The quality of the education and facilities was also not good, we had only two computers for printing for three different groups of students in one room.”
The former student also said the internet connection was “so poor”, students would be unable to complete their assessments.
“We would have constant internet problems and not all of the computers were working either.”
She said when she and other students told the school they wanted to leave, they were left feeling helpless.
“They called a meeting for our class because there were previous students that just had left and they told us one of these days immigration will call them and the officers will tell them to go home because they will get deported and cancel our student visa.
“This gave me the depression, I was very stressed and over-thinking because I was living in fear of being deported.”
The former student said since leaving the school, she had been flooded with notices from debt collectors.
“They’re asking me to pay $3500 and I’ve already paid a huge amount of tuition fees — it’s not right.”
Another student, who also asked not to be named, also in fear of deportation, said she suffered several “sleepless nights” when attempting to leave the school in November last year, fearing she would be deported.
“I spent many nights crying and living in stress because of this experience,” she said.
“We were given false assurances that once we got here it would be easy for us to get a job to support our stay here, this was not true.”
She also complained about the school’s facilities.
“They were lacking computers, we were lacking guidance from the assessors, inside the school the internet was always down.
“We had to spend more money on laptops, the Wi-Fi was always down, we needed to use our own data and the school was not supporting us at all.”
The former student said she and other students were told that if they attempted to leave, the school would report them to immigration.
“I couldn’t take it anymore. I spent $10,000 on the course and I was there for seven months and I didn’t learn anything,’’ she said.
“I’m now being charged interest from collections, they said if I don’t pay it, it will keep accumulating.”
Migrante Melbourne, Association of Filipinos in Victoria, acting chairperson Ness Gavanzo said the association had received up to 50 complaints from students about Lawson College, and that students had filed at least 20 complaints to authorities including the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), Consumer Affairs Victoria and the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
“Through migration agencies, private education providers have lured students from the Philippines to enrol in their programs, with the promise of competent training for future employment in Australia and a possible permanent residency pathway once they finish their studies,” Ms Gavanzo said.
“Upon their arrival in Australia, the students discover that these promises are a sham,” she said.
“Instead of getting their money’s worth of quality education, the students encounter disorganised and incompetently administered curricula, poor academic facilities, and exorbitant fees — a far cry from the offerings marketed to them,” she said.
Through its lawyers, GPZ Legal, said the school strongly denied the allegations.
“Lawson’s facilities are modern and approved by ASQA. They meet all requirements and a campus tour is available on its website,” the GPZ Legal team said in a letter to Leader.
“All Lawson’s facilities are listed on its website. They are extensive, comprehensive, compliant and fit-for-purpose.”
The letter also stated there were “many printers, including multi-function printers”.
GPZ Legal said the deportation allegations were especially “scurrilous and baseless like the other allegations”.
“Strict government rules apply in respect of the transfer of students from one RTO to another. Failure to adhere to them results in a RTO being non-compliant. A student transfer request is dealt with under Lawson’s policy which complies with the relevant Standards.
“The policy is notified to all students while they are still overseas prior to their acceptance of the offer from Lawson to study with it in Australia.”
The letter said school debt collectors were used as a last resort.
“As you’re aware most service providers use debt collectors to pursue fees in such circumstances. Lawson has not pursued legal action against students who have not paid fees
despite this resulting in substantial loss for Lawson, especially during this most
difficult time when no students have arrived from overseas for a long time.”
The school also stated allegations about the phone were untrue.
“Student outcomes are excellent. Most go on to further study or employment.”
The Leader has also seen letters from the college offering relief packages to students to support them during the coronavirus pandemic.
A spokeswoman form Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) a national regulator for vocational education and training (VET) sector, said it had received “a number of complaints in relation to Lawson College in recent months”.
The spokeswoman said the college had been made aware of the nature of the complaints with regard to its regulatory obligations.
“The information reported in complaints is vital for the effective regulation of Australia’s registered training organisations,” she said.
“While ASQA does not have any consumer protection powers and cannot act as an advocate for individual students, information reported in complaints, along with other information, is used to determine whether any further regulatory scrutiny of the provider is needed.”
A Commonwealth Ombudsman spokeswoman also confirmed students had raised issues about Lawson College with its office.
“We are currently considering the information provided,” the spokeswoman said.
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