Tertiary study
Eligible fees, course costs, equipment and approved transition expenses, subject to Stage 0 rules.
Learning Capital
Savings with a job to do.
Learning Capital is the protected portion of verified participation support. Its purpose is to help fund approved tertiary, vocational and apprenticeship pathways—not to manufacture a fiscal saving by counting the same dollar twice.
The central design
Immediate support now. Protected capability investment later.
Under the current model, half of verified participation payments would remain immediately accessible and half would be placed into protected Learning Capital.
Over five school years, central modelled protected contributions total approximately $9,750 per participant. The projected nominal closing balance is approximately $10,682, after investment, fees, tax and lifecycle assumptions.
Investment returns can be positive or negative. The projected balance is not guaranteed.
Possible approved uses
The account should widen pathways—not dictate one.
Vocational education
Industry training, tools, licences, safety equipment and recognised vocational costs.
Apprenticeships
Approved training and entry costs that help a participant begin and complete a durable pathway.
Stage 0 must determine whether any additional uses are justified, how hardship access works, what happens when a participant changes direction, and how unused balances are treated.
Governance rules
Protected does not mean captured.
Student-owned purpose
No employer owns the account, no provider gets exclusive access, and no political office gets to quietly repurpose it.
Regulated stewardship
Low fees, prudent investment, transparent statements, clear complaints and independent oversight.
Portable and flexible
The resource follows the participant across approved pathways rather than trapping them inside a sector’s recruitment plan.
The accounting guardrails
One dollar gets one economic life.
- Both the immediate and protected payment portions remain programme expenditure.
- The Learning Capital balance and borrowing avoided are not additive participant benefits.
- Gross student lending displaced is not the same as net Crown saving.
- Social value is not Crown cash.
- Investment earnings are uncertain and must not be presented as guaranteed.
No fake moustaches
The same dollar is not allowed to enter the benefits column as account value, debt avoided, Crown saving and social return four times while hoping nobody recognises it.
Questions Stage 0 must answer
The account design is not finished because the logo fits nicely on a card.
Legal structure
Who owns the assets, who is the trustee and what protections apply?
Eligible use
Which costs qualify and how are unusual circumstances handled?
Investment
What risk settings, fees, tax treatment and lifecycle options are appropriate?
Equity
How do students with interrupted participation, disability or severe hardship avoid being penalised twice?
Counterfactual
How much student borrowing is genuinely displaced rather than simply accompanied?