Open Colleges Reviews 

I had a really great experience with Open Colleges studying the Cert II in Animal Care. The trainer was super helpful, kind and responded to emails in a timely manner. I was impressed at how fast my assessments got marked too. The course content needs to be proof read as there were lots of grammatical errors and broken links fixed and some of the content seemed redundant. Overall I thought it was a great course for a reasonable price and would recommend it to anyone.

DO NOT sign up for open collage.
The website glitches badly! They are so quick to ring none stop when you seem interested in doing a course within open collage, but as soon as you need support with your course or wanting to cancel with good reasoning they are no help. Absolute waste of time and money.
So many bad reviews from so many people across Australia that’s saying something!
Horrible horrible!

I had a pretty good experience with Open Colleges. The open space portal can be pretty clunky but my trainer was excellent and always willing to help me out when I needed it.

I have had the worst experience with open colleges and do not recommend them to anyone. I’m not someone that normally leaves a review but really wanted to warn others to stay away from them.
EDIT - I’ve pulled out of the course and going to sign up elsewhere. In three weeks of March there was only two available appointments to get help from a teacher. For the whole month of May there is only two available appointments with a teacher. When they tell you that you have plenty of support don’t believe them. The other option to get help with an assessment is to email but that takes a week for a response. This is just one problem I’ve had with them, to list them all I would be here for half an hour writing.

They are criminal. Stay away

Cancelled the course within 48 hours and they wouldn’t refund the money and described it as “an enrollment Fee” . Spoke to so many staff that were saying yes a refund was due and then to be told it’s not. Do not use this college plus the open college is questioned at interviews as being “a proper course or just an easily achieved cert” when my friend when to be interviewed. Not a good reputation and not seen as prestigious education provider. Do not use this college under any circumstances. There are loads of options for other courses with other colleges. So angry with the entire experience and almost a month of emails with any excuse going. Worst customer care ever.

I had a great experience with open colleges and my assessor went above and beyond for me. Any question I had was answered.
Paris sharp

Overall I had a very positive experience with my Horticulture course (Certificate III), and most of the time I actually found it very fun and rewarding. The course was easy to navigate and a good layout for browsing the educational content and then completing the assignments. The educational content is a mix of text (which you need to read and take notes because the assignments will be based on this material) and Youtube videos. I paid $4,000 up front and this gave me access to the course self-paced for 24 months which offers great flexibility for your lifestyle (payments plans are available). Open Colleges is SO much cheaper than Tafe and University courses (and to be honest, I did a double degree at uni and although the experience was better because it was in person rather than online like this course, I think the quality of uni vs Open Colleges is comparable, but the price difference is insane). I was working fulltime whilst studying so it was a bit more intensive than I realised, so don't underestimate the time and effort you'll need to complete the course. So I had to ask for a 6 month extension which was another $400 (but you can just take it month by month which is cheaper). For the horticulture course, you need access to a backyard, plants, and gardening tools. If you don't have this, you'll need to buy it all or you'll need to make an agreement with a horticultural site (like a botanic garden). I just used my private backyard and was lucky my family members let me borrow plants and tools. You will need to film yourself completing all the tasks (like planting seedlings, mowing the lawn, testing soil pH), so you will need a good laptop to edit the videos and upload them. Whenever I had a problem I contacted student support either via email or phone call and I always received help. The phone call waiting times can be very long though. The two assessors that I had (Blaine and Jaclyn) were determined for me to finish this course and I really appreciated their support and encouragement, especially towards the end they gave me extra time because they knew I was SO close to finishing.
But, there were some minor annoyances (for example, you have to talk about common sense hazards/risks like wearing sunscreen and a hat, and then show cleaning and packing away tools in EVERY single video which seems so repetitive and obvious, it's such a waste of time). But things like that are standard in Australia, it's not just an Open Colleges thing.
So yes, I would recommend the horticulture course through Open Colleges, I learnt a lot and had fun along the way, but be prepared for a lot of hard work and filming/video editing. I honestly think they should give me a certificate in film-making too! haha

I had a great experience with open colleges and my assessor’s they went above and beyond to help and guide me throughout my course and couldn’t have done it without them.
Chelsea Preo

A major drawback is the withdrawal policy. If you withdraw within the first 7 days, you face a $200 administration fee. After the 8th day, you’ll owe 75% of the course fee, which could mean paying around $3,200 on a $4,500 course, even if you decide it’s not for you.

I found OpenCollege to be quite challenging, and I wouldn't recommend it to others seeking online education. While the courses may look appealing at first glance, the workload is overwhelming. For instance, in the Certificate III in Individual Support that I studied, I was required to complete 4 to 5 role plays for just one unit I wrote them myself and played with a family member, which felt excessive. Additionally, the lengthy quizzes—spanning four pages—were frustrating and difficult to get through.

Based on my experience, I believe that local TAFE institutions may provide a more manageable and supportive online learning environment. I want to emphasize that this is my personal experience, and I prefer not to be contacted regarding my review.

I enrolled in Certificate 3 in Individual support and paid thousands. After being totally frustrated I went to Steps College and paid $60 for the same course and completed it, I am still waiting for open colleges to get back to me from the first module i started. Please go anywhere but Open Colleges the sales people at the start will make you feel important, once you sign up and pay they don’t care at all.

Signed up for a cert 4 in Accounting. They gave me 7 days "cooling off" period. But I never received the course details or logins until weeks after. I found the course was dismal with units like "How to make business documents" which is something I learnt as a child in year 8. Other units did not touch on accounting either.
I decided this was a waste of over $4k and contacted them to cancel my enrolment and have money refunded. They ignored me for months. I constantly followed up for over 5 months. I was either ignored or told someone would contact me, I was never contacted until I said I had lodged complaints with my bank, ASQA, ACCC and the Education Department. I then was called and told I couldn't be refunded completely because I did not cancel in the cooling off period. I reminded them that they hadn't provided the details until weeks after the cooling off period and I had been trying to cancel for months.
They didn't care even though I had all the proof. They said they would keep $2k of what I had paid and refund the rest.
3 weeks later I still haven't received the promised refund amount.
I'm now taking this up with a lawyer as I feel I've been seriously scammed here.

If I could rate this college a 0 I would. When looking for colleges this placed really stuck out compared to the rest. Before I enrolled I asked if this could be done with living alone which they said yes to. I was also told for any reason I couldn’t finish the course that I could cancel without paying anything besides what I had paid. Fast forward, I handed my first assignment in with a recording of myself editing to make it like I was two people (as I live alone, which I was told that was fine) 4 weeks later I finally get my marks back saying that it’s not allowed and I need to have someone record with me. Any time I tried contact online support no one was there. Every time I tried contacting the office no one answered. So I sent a not very nice email to them that I’m done with this college and to cancel my enrolment to which they have turned around and said if I want to cancel I will need to pay the rest of the amount. This company is a scam they don’t care about the students. Stay far away from this place.

The worst thing I have done was sign up with open colleges. I finished the course within the time but because they did not mark it on time they would not pass me. I then said I would do the next 4 modules but every time I put an assignment in they come up with another module.
Such a scam and waste of money

I had a terrible experience with Opening Colleges. They completely misled me about the necessity of the course I enrolled in. I later found out that I never needed the course at all. They also withheld crucial information that would have led me to avoid the course entirely if I had known upfront. When I requested a refund or to stop the course, they just hid behind their contracts. This company is a total rip-off, and I would never trust or use them again. Avoid at all costs!

Terrible. Do not enrol with Open Colleges! I made the mistake and regret it. The courses are not quality. Not enough trainers. Will charge you nearly your whole course fee to cancel.

It was okay at the beginning but being abandoned later on. Everything gone.
Don’t waste your time and money. Look somewhere else. Now I'm with other real institutions and happy with my journey in my learning and nearly finished. Very contrast to my experience in open college.

Open Colleges is a scam.
No student support after you've enrolled. Poor course material and shonky website layout. Trying to get hold of someone to actually answer your questions and give you a straight answer about anything is near impossible. Do not sign up with them!

Cancelled in cool of period had to call back 5 times to confirm the cancellation so no more money was debited out if my account. Still waiting for reimbursement. Not happy at all. And in this time I get calls regarding interest of course when I stated I already started and cancelled. Plus somehow someone rang my number for a appointment with someone at open colleges. I've never experienced such an unprofessional place. Very disappointing I must say never again will I consider studying through them again.

Overview: Incredibly stressful experience. I only have two positives: the online learning means you can complete work in your own time, and the staff are friendly (when they can be reached).

For context, I was looking for a career change, so I enrolled in the Cert II in Animal Care through OC. I work full-time as a high school science teacher, and already have a Bachelors Degree in Zoology and a Graduate Diploma in Education. I have been working through this Cert II in Animal Care for a little over 6 months and am finishing the first work placement component. It has genuinely been the worst educational experience I have ever had.

The documentation associated with the work placement is convoluted, exhausting, and over-assessed. The expectations and criteria for each task are over-explained and making sense of everything takes up more time than doing the tasks to begin with. There were 20 pages of report comments that my supervisor had to complete, on top of documentation requiring my supervisor to sign off on every single action I completed. Once I got to submitting the evidence for my work placement, I was met with 19 online pages of questioning. Most of which had already been assessed in previous modules, as well as evidenced in the supervisor documentation, and several video recording submissions.

It is over-assessed, complicated, and incredibly difficult to navigate. So much so, that when I spoke to a staff member on the phone for clarification, they admitted to (without prompting) feeling overwhelmed with the sheer volume of assessing they had to get through.

In addition to this, the online platform is rife with errors and is not user friendly. Communicating with staff is a struggle, and it can take several days to get in touch with someone for support.

I am uncertain whether I even want to finish my certificate through OC, and am contacting other institutes to compare their assessment styles.

It feels like I have wasted 6 months and $4000.