VET loans a "disaster": education minister

The federal government says the vocational education loan system is a lesson that taxpayer-funded programs can go "horribly, horribly wrong".

"The VET-FEE help ... is a disaster and one of the worst get-rich schemes I've seen since the pink batts reforms," Education Minister Simon Birmingham told The Conversation on Friday.

The minister was responding to a string of revelations about private training colleges rorting the scheme.