40Annual course contribution

#### 40 Annual course contribution (1) The annual course contribution for the purposes of this Chapter in respect of the year 1992 is $2,250. (2) The annual course contribution for the purposes of this Chapter in respect of a year (in this subsection called the relevant year) subsequent to the year 1992 is: (a) subject to paragraph (b), the amount ascertained by multiplying the annual course contribution in respect of the year immediately preceding the relevant year by the factor ascertained in accordance with subsection (3) in relation to the relevant year; or (b) if an amount calculated under paragraph (a) consists of a number of whole dollars and a number of cents—the amount so calculated disregarding the cents. (3) The factor to be ascertained for the purposes of subsection (2) in relation to a year is: (a) the number, calculated to 3 decimal places, ascertained by dividing the index number for the September quarter in the immediately preceding year by the index number for the September quarter in the year that next preceded that preceding year; or (b) if the number so ascertained would, if it were calculated to 4 decimal places, end in a number greater than 4—the number so ascertained increased by 0.001. (4) Subject to subsection (6), the index number for the September quarter in the year 1991 is 100.00. (5) The Minister shall, before the end of the year 1992 and before the end of each subsequent year: (a) determine the index number for the September quarter in the year concerned; and (b) cause to be published in the Gazette a notice specifying the index number so determined and specifying the amount of the annual course contribution for the purposes of this Part in respect of the next following year. (6) If at any time, whether before or after the commencement of this section, the Minister has changed or changes the reference base for the Higher Education Operating Grants Index, then, for the purposes of the application of this section after the change took place or takes place, regard shall be had only to index numbers published in terms of the new reference base. (7) In this section: > index number, in relation to the September quarter in a year being the year 1992 or a subsequent year, means the Higher Education Operating Grants Index number for that quarter published by the Minister in the Gazette, being a number that takes into account changes in costs incurred by institutions since the September quarter in the immediately preceding year.