Monash Union of Berwick Students president Tyrone Badar said students who started education degrees earlier this year would be relocated to the university's Clayton campus in their final year. Other students would be "mostly unaffected" by the changes. "This is a shattering outcome for students, given how stressful this period of uncertainty has already been," Mr Badar said. He said the union had unsuccessfully tried to raise its concerns with local politicians for two years. Victoria University has turned down an offer to take over the campus.

Monash University Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Gardner said enrolments at the campus had been consistently low, making it difficult to provide a "full student experience". Just 300 new students enrolled at the campus in 2016. "Many local students that Monash attracts from the region have also tended to go past the local campus in preference for other campuses. In broader terms, demand for higher education in the south-east has not grown to the extent it was once anticipated," she said. She said no redundancies were expected and the proposal was open to consultation, with a decision to be made at the end of this month. "I repeat that we are committed to all of our students and staff. Monash students enrolled at Berwick will continue to be taught by Monash staff and, subject to meeting the normal requirements, graduate with a Monash degree," she said. The site also accommodates the select-entry Gustav Nossal High School and the Insight school for blind and vision impaired students.

The campus was initially meant to accommodate 4000 students, but just 1600 students were enrolled in 2016. In 2009, the university announced an ambitious target of increasing the campus' enrolments to 12,000 students. Victorian Training and Skills Minister Steve Herbert said the state government had offered assistance to Monash to continue education at the campus, or until arrangements were made for another provider. "Having tertiary education in Berwick is vital to the continued growth and prosperity of Melbourne's outer south-east," he said. He said the state had a limited role in universities, and he had written to the federal education Minister Simon Birmingham, urging him to "discuss the issue with Monash and to support continued education provision on the site". He said Monash had been discussing its future at the site since 2013.