Union Victorian president Mary Bluett was in Morwell on Monday to talk to teachers at Kurnai College about the changes.

Ms Bluett said new reforms, introduced on 1 July, had caused enrollment fees for diploma and advanced diploma courses to jump from $877 to $1500 per year, and these will rise to $2500 by 2012.

Concession rates of $55 no longer apply for courses at diploma level and above, and those who already have a degree or diploma, will be charged a full fee, the union said.

The union has started a public campaign to alert prospective students to the changes and Ms Bluett will visit other secondary schools in the Valley to ensure they are aware of the impacts.

Ms Bluett said although the State Government had spent lots of money to run an information campaign about the changes, not everyone was aware of them.

``Careers teachers are advising young people about their career paths without knowing of the changes,'' Ms Bluett said.

She said TAFE was the path more than half of Gippsland's school leavers took when they completed year 12, but many would not be able to afford to do this under the new reforms.

``Gippsland has one of the highest unemployment levels and a high number of concession card holders,'' she said.

``Vocational education and training is, for some of them, the only pathway to educational training and employment...they see TAFE as an affordable option.''

She said although the government was planning a review of the reform next year, the union was ``not getting a sense the government planned to make any changes''.

A spokesperson for Skills and Workforce Participation Minister Jacinta Allan had not responded to a request for comment at the time of going to print.