the fees are gone up to 23k this year....My parents don't want me to go unless it's at least a half scholarship. the chance of getting that are incredibly slim aren't they....
half scholarships are pretty difficult i reckon. However you will never know until you apply. Are you from the country or are you from sydney?
however I just wanted to look at where you were getting your figures for $23k. Looking at the fees this year, it is $432 per week. It will probably go up a bit a week next year - maybe $440-50. However residents don't live at college the entire year - they generally only stay for 34 weeks per year (ie. 17 weeks each semester - a uni semester is 13 weeks, plus 1 week stuvac, 2 weeks exams and 1 week mid-semester break), and go home during the holidays. It is rare for students to stay at college all year around (unless they are overseas students, or have a job in sydney).
So for 2011 most students would be paying: 34 weeks x $423 = $14,620 (accommodation and food). There are couple of incidentals such as bond etc, but you get this back when you leave college. I hope that provides a bit more clarification regarding fees.
Certainly if you were going to stay for 52 weeks, it would around $23k, but saying that, i don't even think college is open for 52 weeks, I have a suspicion they basically close down at least for a couple of weeks over christmas. Normally in the holidays they have conferences and stuff stay there.