Labor says the government has abandoned independent checking of taxpayer-funded advertising campaigns.
A campaign was launched on Sunday to counter what the government says is misinformation about its plan to deregulate universities, which has yet to pass parliament.
The advertising says the government "will continue to pay around half your undergraduate degree".
Labor says some students will pay up to 90 per cent of the cost of their degrees, based on fee structures publicly released by several universities.
The opposition wrote to the Finance Department, which has oversight of advertising, claiming the campaign breached the guidelines requiring that "where information is presented as a fact it should be accurate and verifiable".
The advertising also breached rules which require a "demonstrated need" be fulfilled and that the content did not serve a political purpose, Labor said.
But Finance Department secretary Jane Halton has rejected having any role in overseeing the advertising guidelines.
"My department has a co-ordinating role and advises entities on whether information and advertising campaigns are subject to guideline certification and endorsement," Ms Halton wrote to the federal opposition on Wednesday.
"Finance does not have a role in respect to guideline compliance."
She said she passed Labor's letter on to Education Department secretary Lisa Paul - the person who signed off on the campaign.
The Finance Department website says: "Entities conducting information and advertising campaigns must comply with all relevant policies and processes issued and amended from time to time by the Special Minister of State or the Minister for Finance or the entity responsible for such policies, currently the Department of Finance."
Labor spokeswoman Sharon Bird said the response cast doubt on Prime Minister Tony Abbott's claim the advertisements were independently checked.
"In government Labor established an independent communications committee to scrutinise government advertisements," Ms Bird told AAP.
"This committee has since been abolished by the Abbott government.
"Labor can find no evidence of that the government advertising approval process as it currently stands under the Abbott government includes any independent oversight whatsoever."
Meanwhile, a Facebook page set up to provide official government responses to questions about the universities policy appeared to contradict the government's claim of paying half the cost of a degree.
"It is not possible for the government to estimate what universities will charge in a deregulated environment," the Facebook post read.
The post said the government would continue to pay a "big share of your higher education".
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