Graphic Design School Enrolment

Terms & Conditions

Please read this information carefully. It provides you with details of our commitment to you as an official Direct Debit user and your responsibilities as a customer. All enrolees must read and accept these Terms & Conditions before enrolment.

The Graphic Design School Direct Debit Agreement

Important—Direct debits will be drawn from the same credit card or PayPal account that you used for enrolment. It is not necessary to pay through the payment page of the website each due payment date. Payments are deducted monthly.

Fees

The Intensive Foundation Graphic Design Course costs a full price one off payment of $1990. Students may also opt to pay for the course via the part payment method. There are two choices of payment in the part payment method.

• The two choices are:
• $725 per month for 3 months or
• $400 per month for 6 months.

Both of the above part payments schedules include and bank charges administration charges.

• See below for total plan costs:
• The $725 × 3 month plan costs a total of $2175
• The $400 × 6 month plan costs a total of $2400

The first payment of each payment plan will be deducted on the day of enrolment. Each subsequent payment will be deducted automatically from the nominated credit card or PayPal account on the same date each month for 6 months (for the monthly plan).

The above stated fees are for course duration of 1 year, maximum.

For more specific details regarding the part payment direct debit arrangements, students must read and agree to our Terms and Conditions before enrolling under the part payment plan on the enrolment page of the website.

Payment Methods

Web enrolment is available 24/7 you may pay for enrolment via:

• Visa
• Mastercard
• PayPal

Clients who wish to pay via bank transfer may pay in full by this method. Please email accounts@thegraphicdesignschool.com to request whether you are eligible to pay via bank transfer. Payment in cash is discouraged.

Fees payable

Fees are payable upon enrolment with The Graphic Design School. The Graphic Design School may discontinue training if fees are not paid as required. Administration charges of $50 apply to declined transactions due through part payment. In order to avoid admin charges please email or call the school before your due transaction debit date if you are having difficulty making payments.

Direct Credit Card Debit & PayPal Agreements—Part Payments

Enrolment on a Monthly payment plan for 3 months

In consideration for The Graphic Design School Pty Ltd initially making the Intensive Foundation Graphic Design Course available to you, you agree to pay The Graphic Design School Pty Ltd the first payment of $725 on the day of enrolment, and the remaining 2 payments of $725 on the same date each month.

Your Certificate of Completion will not be issued until all payments have been made in full. Please choose your plan wisely as you may not change Payment plans once the initial payment amount has been processed. The 3 month payment plan totals $2175.

Enrolment on a Monthly payment plan for 6 months

In consideration for The Graphic Design School Pty Ltd initially making the Intensive Foundation Graphic Design Course available to you, you agree to pay The Graphic Design School Pty Ltd the first payment of $400 on the day of enrolment, and the remaining 5 payments of $400 on the same date each month.

Your Certificate of Completion will not be issued until all payments have been made in full. Please choose your plan wisely as you may not change Payment plans once the initial payment amount has been processed. The 6 month payment plan totals $2400.

Our Commitment to You

1. Once your initial payment has been successfully processed you will be sent your enrolment details, login and password for your online secure study site (Schoolyard). The time that this payment takes to process depends on your financial institutions response. As a general rule this response arrives within 48 hours. The school will issue you your enrolment details within 24 hours (within normal business days) of this response.
2. In the case of instant PayPal part payments PayPal notifies us of instant approval of payments. In the case of e-cheque PayPal part payments PayPal notifies us of your cleared e-cheque within 7- 10 days of payment. The school will issue you your enrolment details within 24 hours (within normal business days) of the above notifications from PayPal.
3. A tax invoice of payment made will be issued to you for the first payment, the dates of future planned direct debits will be noted on this invoice. This invoice will be issued to you within 10 days of enrolment. Once your account has been paid in full you may request a tax invoice of fees all paid at accounts@thegraphicdesignschool.com.
4. After the initial payment made upon enrolment, subsequent Direct Debit payments will be debited from your credit card/PayPal no earlier than the anniversary of your enrolment date and no later than 5 days after this date. We advise our students to have money in their accounts 5 days before and 5 days after the due date to avoid any risk of a declined payment.
5. The date of enrolment will determine that the payment will be deducted on the same date each month (for 6 month debit plan) thereafter. E.g. Enrolment was on the 24th of January, the next debit date will occur on the 24th February, then 24th March and so on and so forth until six payments in total have been made.
6. The school will notify you of a declined transaction and/or successful reprocessing via email.
7. If you enroled through PayPal, PayPal will notify you via email of your declined transaction. PayPal will notify you in the same email the date they intend to reprocess your payment. Failure to replenish funds on your PayPal account may incur PayPal account restrictions. This is a decision made entirely by PayPal. The school does not have access to your PayPal account, nor can they influence PayPal's decision regarding your account.
8. We will keep all information regarding your nominated account private and confidential. It is essential to the processing of secure online credit card payments that the school use a payment gateway. Both the payment gateway (Eway PTY LTD) and our financial institution are privy to your account details for reasons of processing your payments.
9. TGDS cannot be held responsible or financially liable for third parties errors. We will endeavour to help solve errors with these third parties however, for our customers benefit.
10. We abide by the National Privacy Principles of the Commonwealth Privacy Act (1988).

Your Rights

1. If you want to make changes to your direct debit arrangements, please contact us in writing via email at least 10 business days before the due date of the next debit transaction. These changes may include terminating your Direct Debit Agreement by paying in full the balance of your direct debit agreement, altering the monthly payment schedule. Certain changes may be affected at the sole discretion of The Graphic Design School.
2. Where you consider that a direct debit has been transacted incorrectly (outside the Direct Debit Agreement arrangements) you should contact us immediately via email accounts@thegraphicdesignschool.com. We will respond to your query within 10 business days and do our utmost to help resolve the issue.
3. If you do not receive a satisfactory response from us to your dispute, contact your financial institution.

Your Commitment to Us

It is your responsibility

1. To ensure that sufficient funds are available in your account to meet the requirements of our agreement on each due date.
2. To ensure that the authorisation given by you to draw on your nominated account is identical to the account signing instructions held by the Financial Institution where your account is based.
3. To advise us if the account nominated by you under the Direct Debit Agreement is transferred or closed.
4. To contact us and arrange a suitable alternative payment method if the Direct Debit Agreement is cancelled either by you or by the Financial Institution where your nominated account is based.
5. If your payment is dishonoured or declined for any reason and you have not given 10 days notice to the school, you will be required to pay an administration fee of $50 to The Graphic Design School.
6. Please note we cannot accept any bank charges levied by your Financial Institution for rejected transactions in your nominated account. For any queries or concerns regarding this arrangement or The Graphic Design School Pty Ltd Direct Debit Agreement, please contact our accounts team via email accounts@thegraphicdesignschool.com
7. If a direct debit item is returned unpaid by your nominated Financial Institution due to insufficient funds, we will attempt to reprocess the funds owing, on any following day at our discretion. In the circumstance of a declined payment you will be automatically charged a $50 admin fee. The school will notify you of a declined transaction and/or successful reprocessing via email.
8. Failure to correctly notify us as to how and when you plan to rectify the reason that your account was declined will result in a suspension of your Schoolyard account until all fees owed are paid. Failure to rectify the reason that your account was declined in a timely manner will result in a suspension of your Schoolyard account until all fees owed are paid.
9. When using the Direct Debit facility with a credit card that has an expiration date, before the end of your next due direct debit payment you must contact The Graphic Design School within 30 days of the credit card expiration date to notify The Graphic Design School of the new card details. Failure to do so may result an administration fee of $50.
10. We reserve the right to cancel The Graphic Design School Pty Ltd Direct Debit agreement with you if more than two or more direct debits are returned unpaid by your nominated Financial Institution and you fail to rectify the issues of payment. Our accounts team will contact you to arrange an alternative payment method. In the event that you are not able to meet the Direct Debit agreement. We reserve the right to cancel you as a student from the course, along with the Certificate of Completion that may be due or issued without refund of fees already paid.

What will you need in order to complete the courses

As you will be studying from home there will be a certain amount of equipment that you will need to undertake the course successfully. These are as follows:

A Computer

PC or Mac is fine, the course runs on any operating system. The Schoolyard itself functions like any other internet site, no special requirements are needed to run the Schoolyard. You will however be using graphics software throughout the course. These softwares require a minimum amount of system requirements to run fast and efficiently.

System requirements to run design software are:

• Windows Users
• 1.5GHz or faster processor
• Microsoft¨ Windows¨ XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista¨ Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1
• 512MB of RAM
• 1.8GB of available hard-disk space
• 16-bit video card
• DVD-ROM drive

• Macintosh Users
• PowerPC¨ G5 or Multicore Intel¨ processor
• Mac OS X v10.4.11Ð10.5.4 or above
• 512MB of RAM
• 1.6GB of available hard-disk space for installation
• 1,024x768 display (1,280x800 recommended) with 16-bit video card
• DVD-ROM drive

Software

You will be required to own your own copy of the Adobe Creative Suite Standard edition, CS3, CS4 or CS5. Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. This can be purchased at Education prices through certain suppliers only. Please contact the school for a list of our suppliers in your area.

Internet Connection

Connection to Internet is also required. There are no particular speeds or access that is a minimum requirement as all modules can be downloaded and saved to your computer. Training videos can be streamed at an optional dial up speed level if needed. This option has been provided for people in remote areas and limited access to high speed Internet. If you do have the option to have access to higher speed internet (cable or broadband), this will help you have a more timely access when you need to conduct design research on the web.

Camera Equipment

Module 7 and 10 requires you to have access to an SLR camera: analogue or digital is fine. If you choose to use a digital camera it must be of at least 3 mega pixels. Module 11 and 12 will require that you photograph your work for packaging and portfolio projects, the camera you choose to work with in these projects is up to you, however if digital it must be of at least 3 mega pixels to ensure work quality. You must also possess knowledge basic knowledge of how to operate an SLR camera.

Illustration Supplies

Throughout the course you will need to complete design sketches, we ask that students have a small range of lead pencils HB-4B, A4 and A3 sketching pads.

Printing and Scanning equipment

In order to record evidence as part of your design processes you will be required to have access to a scanner and a printer. A colour printer is a personal preference, but not necessary for your assessments, Black and White printing is acceptable.

Student Support

The Graphic Design School has an online forum that can be accessed through the Schoolyard. This forum is manned by the schools tutors. You can find many questions by current and past students that can help you answer a query, or you can post a question to one of the tutors yourself. You can also give us a call at our head office if you are having any difficulties.

English language, literacy and numeracy skills

Language, literacy and numeracy skills are critical to almost all areas of work. This is particularly true in graphic design where there is a need to communicate with clients, read and understand design briefs and do research. Our course is delivered in English, so it is assumed that every student will have good English, reading, comprehension, speaking and listening and writing. If you can read and understand the TGDS website and the Student Handbook, that is the level of English needed for this course.

The Graphic Design School will support students during their study with training and assessment materials that are easily understood and suitable to the level of the workplace skills being delivered. We will also provide tutors throughout the course who can answer questions and help through the Schoolyard support forum.

Our expectation of you

• The Graphic Design School expects you:
• To contribute to learning in a harmonious and positive manner irrespective of gender, race, sexual preference, political affiliation, marital status, disability or religious belief.
• To comply with the rules and regulations of The Graphic Design School.
• To be honest and respectful, this includes not falsifying work or information and not communicating in any way that may cause offence to others or The Graphic Design School.
• To be responsible for your own learning and development by participating actively and positively and by ensuring that you maintain progress with learning modules.
• To monitor your own progress by ensuring that assessments are submitted in a timely manner.
• To utilize facilities and The Graphic Design School publications with respect and to honour our copyrights and prevent our publication from being distributed to unauthorised persons.
• To respect other students and The Graphic Design School staff right to privacy and confidentiality.

Your equity

The Graphic Design School is committed to ensuring that the training and assessment environment is free from discrimination and harassment. We are the caring, equalitarian, religious and politically neutral variety at The Graphic Design School. You will find your fellow students and the faculty are kind, inquisitive, informative, sometimes humorous and often inspiring. Student support forum discussions are conducted with open and honest communication. We have never had one abusive or rude comment made by a student or staff on the forum, we are very proud of this and find it a rare thing in a forum situation. We are however aware that cyber bullying does exist on the world wide web. Discrimination and harassment will not be tolerated under any circumstances by the school. Students should expect fair and friendly behaviour from The Graphic Design School staff and each other.

Students who feel that they have been discriminated against or harassed should report this information to admin staff. This will initiate a complaints handling procedure which will be fair and transparent and will protect your rights as a complainant. If a student feels that a satisfactory resolution has not been met he/she may report an instance of discrimination or harassment to an agency external to The Graphic Design School, they are advised to contact the HREOC Complaints Info-line on 1300 656 419.

Your privacy

The Graphic Design School takes the privacy of participants very seriously and complies with all legislative requirements. These include the Privacy Act 1988 and National Privacy Principles (2001).

Student information is only shared with external agencies such as registering authorities to meet compliance requirements as a Registered Training Organisation. All information shared is kept in the strictest confidence by both parties and is available on request.

In some cases as required by law, The Graphic Design School will need to make student information available to others such as the National Centre for Vocational Education and Research. In all other cases The Graphic Design School will seek the written permission of the student for this disclosure.

Student cancellation

Refunds - 7 day trial period

Students who cancel their enrolment within 7 days of enrolment will be entitled to a full refund of fees paid, irrespective of whether the student has undertaken assessment. Requests for refunds will be processed and transacted at the end of each month in which the cancellation notification was received. Certificates will not be issued in the case of a full refund request. Refunds can be requested by email to admin@thegraphicdesignschool.com you will need to complete a simple refund request form.

Students who seek refund after 7 days will only be considered for partial refund in the case of compassionate and compelling circumstances. In this case applications for refund must be accompanied by certified copies of documents supporting the students case. Partial refunds can be requested by email to admin@thegraphicdesignschool.com you will need to complete a refund request form, attach it with your documents and forward via post to the address supplied on the refund form. Issuance of a partial refund is at the sole discretion of the school, if the school does not deem that you qualify for and/or cannot provide sufficient documents to support your case, you will not be issued a refund. A processing fee of $50 will apply to refunds of this nature. If the student applying for partial refund due to compassionate and compelling circumstances has undertaken assessment the school will charge the student a fee of $50 per assessment undertaken.

• Circumstances that do not entitle students to a refund:
• If student enrolment is terminated by the school due to a serious breach of school policy or our terms and conditions as described in our direct debit agreement, a refund will not be issued.
• If as student has falsified documents or intentionally misleading information on enrolment form or payment system that have influenced the decision to offer a place in the course. This includes falsifying or intentionally misleading your capacity to undertake the course.
• Student discontinues the course for reasons that the school does not deem to qualify for compassionate and compelling circumstances.
• Student does not provide sufficient or correct evidence to support a case of compassionate and compelling circumstances.
• Student does not finish the full 12 module course before 1 year course finish date and has elected to not purchase the 6 month extension.

Note: Refund payments are processed by way or reversal of funds to the credit card, PayPal or bank account that fees were paid through initially.

Course Incompletion within 1 year period

Students who do not complete the course within the one year allotted for the course will be entitled to purchase a six month extension for $400. If the student does not purchase the course extension, the student may request a certificate stating modules completed to satisfaction. Further access to the course and its materials will be declined after the year date has passed.

Our continuous improvement of services

The Graphic Design School is committed to the continuous improvement of its training and assessment services, student services and management systems. Central to this commitment is our approach to continuous improvement and the procedures we apply to achieve systematic and sustained improvement. Students are encouraged to provide feedback to The Graphic Design School so we can improve our services in the future.

Terms and Conditions concerning the Certificate IV in Design upgrade course are the same as above with the exception of pricing and qualification/certificates issued. Terms & Conditions for the Certificate IV in Design course upgrade will be issued when a student wishes to undertake enrolment in that course.