Open Colleges Reviews 

Gabrielle Luvara was amazing, so helpful and friendly! She was able to answer all my questions and guided me through enrollment smoothly. Great experience!

I had an unacceptable experience with Open Colleges and strongly caution prospective students before enrolling.
Upon enrolling in the Certificate IV in Makeup Artistry, a key requirement — holding or obtaining an ABN to access trade pricing for tools — was not disclosed upfront. This added a significant financial and practical burden, and I would not have enrolled had it been communicated.
I discovered this within the first few pages of the reading material (after paying half the fees) and contacted support but received no assistance. I was later emailed asking why I hadn’t progressed, despite having requested cancellation — highlighting serious communication issues within themselves.
I was experiencing financial hardship and recovering from a serious hospitalisation, making the unexpected costs unmanageable. Confusion over “C.O.E.” (which I understood as Close of Enrolment, but actually meant Confirmation of Enrolment) further complicated matters. Despite the fact that I had already received a Confirmation of Enrolment when I enrolled, why then would I be requesting another one especially after I’ve requested to cancellation/closure of course.
This issue has now been ongoing for nearly a year. Despite providing medical documentation and proof of financial hardship, my request for a refund was declined, and I had Collection Department pursuing full payment after I returned from visiting my sick parents interstate for Xmas/New Year.
Overall, this has been an extremely stressful experience greatly uncalled for. Greater transparency, clearer communication, and more consideration for students facing genuine hardship are urgently needed. Prospective students should be aware of these issues before enrolling.

**Sidenote: I recently started seeing a psychologist because of stress ie unable to make rent payments, stacked of unpaid utility bills etc.

I had a really positive experience completing my course. The support throughout was amazing, and I always felt encouraged.

My assessor, Mel, was helpful, gave clear feedback, and made everything easy to understand. Communication was great and everything ran smoothly.

I’m really grateful for the support and proud to have finished. I would definitely recommend this organisation to others.

A big thank you to Mel at open college. She is an amazing assessor, always there to answer questions and just keep you motivated. I will recommend Open Colege anytime xx

I recently completed my Certificate in Horticulture through Open Colleges and had a really positive experience from start to finish. My lecturers, Blaine and Jaclyn, were approachable, supportive and always willing to help when I needed guidance. Communication was easy, which made a big difference while studying.

The course gave me practical skills and confidence, leading to a job offer at a nursery after my prac hours, and, more recently, the opportunity to help design and fit out a restaurant frontage.

Highly recommend for anyone wanting to get into Horticulture!

My experience while studying in Open Colleges was challenging. It brings out the best in me. Went to mental health breakdown while doing the course, but the team was very understanding. They extended the duration of my course was a big help to me. Team was very understanding, encouraged me throughout my units.

Gabrielle Luvara was lovely to speak to, everything was communicated clearly and was all round a pleasant experience to enrol.

Loved the flexibility of my course, and the ongoing support from assist was readily available. Would definitely study through them again.

Thank you to Gabrielle at OC for assisting me with my enrollment for Dip in Counselling, I am so excited to start.

I completed my Cert III in Community Services through Open Colleges, and I just want to say a big thank you to Elisha and Oni who were the trainers running the course.
Elisha and Oni marked my work fairly and gave me a lot of guidance when I did not answer a question correctly.
Although, there was a lot of work involved in the work placement, including role plays and going through the logbook, I was granted the first 40 hours of my placement to be marked off as I have been working in the field for over 3 years.
Elisha managed to go through my second logbook and get back to me the same day informing me I was missing an attachment.
Overall I had a great experience, and even the student support line was helpful when I needed an extension or had questions about starting placement etc.

I amEka I finished my course through Open colleges,I really appreciated all staff,and specially my Assessor Mell ,she is a wonderful and she gave me a excellent services, very supportive and quickly responded. I can say really thank you very much Mell, really appreciated. All staff very good, I can highly recommend Open colleges, overall excellent.Thank you very much to everyone.

Assessments have been sitting for months without any grading so slow to respond to any questions so hard to get an appointment just not worth the stress time or money go elsewhere

Mel is the best training I ever had in open college she was my assessor from last few months only but she erase all my frustrations which I had during in my course by giving me good advice and helping me to complete tasks.
Thank you Mel only because of your guidance my last two units which are harder become easy for me.

I would like to thank both Oni and Elisha for their wonderful help and support and guidance they gave me through the whole of my course, they were always there when I had questions that I needed to ask, and for being there when I need someone to talk to about my course, so thank you to both of you, and please keep up the amazing work you both do.

The teachers were amazing, I want to say that before I say anything else, because they were always so helpful and lovely to deal with.
The course itself wasn’t. For a Cert 3 that is supposed to be entry level, it was not.
I have worked in the field for 2 years and if I hadn’t been, there is no way I would’ve been able to complete it.
The work was astronomical! It was far more than any of my CERT 4 qualified work colleagues had to do when they completed their courses.
Each module required multiple roleplays which were hard to get done as you required other people to step in and help.
When getting to work placement I thought I was on the home stretch but it unlocked about 9 or 10 modules you then had to go through and complete whilst trying to work.
It was near impossible for me to do both. I had to complete 90% of my work placement out of hours. Absolutely ridiculous amount of work.
I wouldn’t recommend anyone doing this course through Open colleges unless you already have some knowledge and you aren’t working and can allocate lots of time to study.

Had a great experience studying with open colleges. My trainer Ellena was amazing throughout the course and guided me when needed!

I enjoyed my time doing my Certificate 3 with Open Colleges, especially because my Assessor Mel was very supportive and would follow up on me whenever i had a challenge with any of the modules. Thank you Open colleges

Phyllis was amazing. She totally understood our son’s needs. She listened and worked with us to ensure that he got the best package that would set him up for success. Thanks so much.

I submitted my cancellation within the 7-day cooling-off period on 12 January and was advised I was entitled to a full refund (approx. $4,500).

I was told the refund would be processed within 15 business days.

It is now 16 February, over a month later and I have just been informed that my refund has only now been “lodged,” meaning I have to wait another 10 days.

I have called four separate times trying to find out where my money was, and each time no one could provide clear answers or a transaction reference. No one could explain the delay. No one took ownership of the issue.

This is a significant amount of money to be holding without explanation. Being told repeatedly that it was “processing” when it clearly hadn’t even been lodged is extremely disappointing and stressful.

If you’re considering enrolling, be aware that if you need to cancel, you may be waiting over a month just to have your refund actioned.

Very poor communication and very poor handling of funds

I really enjoyed completing the Diploma of Counselling, each time I had to call the advisors were all really helpful and ready to solve my questions.

My trainer Kelly Merchant was fabulous with real world knowledge, she motivated me to keep going when life through a couple of curve balls. I appreciate all the support Kelly!

My background is working in Domestic Violence and I feel doing this course has given me further tools that I can use when supporting my clients.

The content was good, easy to understand and I also enjoyed that the course was self paced as I work full-time so was able to fit in the study when it suited my schedule.

Thanks Amber