HELP
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VET FEE-HELP
This is for TAFE students. Visit the TAFE Fees page for information.
HECS-HELP
HECS HELP New Legislation.
Subject to the passage of legislation, from 1 January 2012, the Australian Government will lower the HECS-HELP discount, applied to up-front student contribution payments of $500 or more, from 20 per cent to 10 per cent.
HECS-HELP is a loan available to eligible students enrolled in a Commonwealth supported place. A HECS-HELP loan can cover all or part of the student contribution amount.
If you receive a HECS-HELP loan, the Australian Government pays the loan amount directly to Swinburne on your behalf. A HECS-HELP debt is recorded for you with the Tax Office against your Tax File Number.
- Types of HECS-HELP Assistance
- Who is eligible for HECS-HELP?
- HECS-HELP Discount
- New Zealand citizens & holders of permanent visas
Types of HECS-HELP Assistance
There are two types of HECS-HELP assistance available to eligible Commonwealth Supported Students. If you are eligible, you may access both the HECS-HELP loan and the discount to pay your student contibution.
If you are eligible for HECS-HELP, you may pay your student contribution in three different ways:
- pay all of your student contribution amount up front and get a 10% discount
- receive a HECS-HELP loan for the full student contribution amount or
- pay some of your student contribution up front and receive a HECS-HELP loan for the remainder of your contribution and get a 10 per cent discount for payments over $500.
Who is eligible for HECS-HELP?
You are eligible for HECS-HELP if you are a Commonwealth supported student and
- an Australian citizen or
- the holder of a permanent humanitarian visa.
Provide Proof of Citizenship if requested. Proof includes a certified copy of your Australian Birth Certificate, current Australian Passport or an Australian Citizenship Certificate.
To receive HECS-HELP assistance for a unit of study, you must meet all the following requirements. You have:
- paid your full student contribution amount up front, or provided your Tax File Number (TFN) by the census date.
- completed signed and submitted a Request for Commonwealth Support and HECS-HELP form (1290A) and supplied your Tax File Number (TFN), by the census date.
Note: You should apply to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to obtain a TFN. If you do not supply a TFN and you do not pay your student contribution up front by the census date then your enrolment will be cancelled.
HECS-HELP Discount
If you are eligible for HECS-HELP and you choose to pay all, or at least $500, of your student contribution amount up front, then you will receive a 10 per cent discount on the amount paid up front.
Table to show the terms and conditions
| HECS-HELP terms and conditions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| SCA payment option | Will accrue loan debt | 10% discount (payments of $500 or more) | Must provide Tax File Number (TFN) by census date |
| Full upfront SCA payment option | No (Pay 90% of full SCA) | Yes | Yes (if pay less than 90%) No (if pay 90% of full SCA) |
| Part upfront payment with part HECS-HELP loan | Yes (If pay less than 90% of full SCA) | Yes | Yes |
| Full HECS-HELP loan with no upfront payment | Yes (Pay 0% of full SCA) | No | Yes |
New Zealand citizens & holders of permanent visas
If you are a New Zealand citizen or holder of a permanent visa (except permanent humanitarian), you must pay 100% of your student contribution amounts for all the units on or before the census date. You are not:
- eligible for any HECS-HELP assistance
- allowed to change your payment option unless you become an Australian citizen.
Note: If you do not pay 100% of your student contribution amounts for all the units in a teaching period on or before the census date then your enrolment will be cancelled.
All CSP (Commonwealth Supported Places) students MUST FILL A Request for Commonwealth support and HECS-HELP form (1290A). Please note: the form still shows 20% discount but this information is superseded by information on the HECS_HELP Booklet on page 2. Before you fill the form please read the HECS-HELP 2012 Booklet.
Closing date for requesting HECS-HELP
The census date for your units of study is the closing date for requesting HECS-HELP assistance.
Importance of the census date
The census date is important because it is the deadline for all the following:
- completing and submitting your Request for Commonwealth support and HECS-HELP form;
- paying part or all of your student contribution up front, if you wish to pay up front; and
- providing your Tax File Number (TFN), if you request a HECS-HELP loan.
If you remain enrolled in a Commonwealth supported unit at the end of the census date you will:
- consume student learning entitlement (SLE)*;
- be liable to pay your student contribution; and
- incur a HECS-HELP debt, if you have requested a loan for your student contribution.
*Student Learning Entitlement (SLE)
Student Learning Entitlement (SLE) is a government limit on the amount of Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) you can have. The limit is 7 years of an Equivalent Full Time Student Load (EFTSL).
Tracking your entitlement usage
The government records your use of SLE and any loan debt. You can view this at myUniAssist using your Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number (CHESSN).
Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number (CHESSN)
The government gives a 10-digit Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number (CHESSN) to all students in a Commonwealth Supported Place or using FEE-HELP.
Get your CHESSN from your Commonwealth Assistance Notice
You need this CHESSN to login to your information in myUniAssist.
This government database has information on all your studies at Swinburne and at other higher education institutions.
In myUniAssist you can:
- Check your HECS-HELP debt
- Check your FEE-HELP debt (and remaining balance)
- Check your student learning entitlement **
Changes to Student Learning Entitlement (SLE) system
NOTE: Abolition of the Student Learning Entitlement (SLE) system
The SLE system will be abolished from 1 January 2012. The Higher Education Support Amendment (Demand Driven Funding System and Other Measures) Bill 2011 was passed by the Parliament on 14 September 2011.
Under the provisions of the Bill, eligible students will no longer have a limit placed on how much study they can undertake as a Commonwealth supported student. Students who have used up their allocation of SLE will now be able to re-enrol from 1 January 2012 to complete their studies as a Commonwealth supported student (or undertake further study in a Commonwealth supported place). Those students who used up their SLE and have paid tuition fees for a fee paying place and/or received a FEE-HELP loan are not able to receive a remittance of those fees or a reduction in their FEE-HELP debt.
Further information about the abolition of the SLE system will be posted as it becomes available. Keep visiting www.goingtouni.gov.au for updates on this information.
Census date and your enrolment
The following table outlines the impact of missing the census date.
| If, by the census date, you fail to | Then… |
|---|---|
| complete your Request for Commonwealth support and HECS-HELP form | Swinburne University will cancel your enrolment as a Commonwealth supported student |
| Swinburne University will cancel your enrolment as a Commonwealth supported student |
Census date and your HECS-HELP debt
If you have requested a HECS-HELP loan for your student contribution then you will incur a debt for the units you are enrolled in as at the census date.
You will not incur a HECS-HELP debt if you formally withdraw on or before the census date.
Census date - your responsibility
You are responsible for meeting Swinburne University's census date deadline. You must be aware of:
- your census dates, and
- You must check that all your enrolment and payment details are correct on or before the census date for the Teaching period you are enrolled in.
Commonwealth Assistance Notice (CAN)
A Commonwealth Assistance Notice is for Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) and FEE-HELP students to check:
- Enrolment details (eg course, units, semester)
- Fee/payment details (eg charges, payments, loan amounts)
Each semester, if you are a domestic Higher Education student, you are able to view your Commonwealth Assistance Notice (CAN) online 28 days after the census date. Access to your CAN is available from the My Swinburne portal at:
The CAN will include information on the amount of debt owing and Student Learning Entitlement (SLE) consumed for the Teaching Period. If you believe that the CAN is incorrect, you have fourteen (14) days from the published date of the CAN to request in writing to Swinburne University that the CAN be corrected.
Disputes
You need to dispute errors in writing within 14 days of the date of issue.
We advise you of the outcome to your Swinburne Student email.
Failure to dispute
If you do not dispute an incorrect notice, an incorrect loan debt could be reported to the tax office.
We will not review a late dispute unless you prove special circumstances.
FEE-HELP
FEE-HELP is a loan given to eligible fee paying students to help pay part or all of their tuition fees. The Commonwealth Government pays the amount of the loan directly to Swinburne. Students repay their loan through the tax system once their income is above the minimum threshold for compulsory repayment.
FEE-HELP is available to all eligible fee paying students.
Citizenship and residency requirements
To be eligible for FEE‐HELP assistance for a unit of study, a person must be:
- an Australian citizen; or
- the holder of a permanent humanitarian visa who will be resident in Australia for the duration of the unit; or
- the holder of a permanent visa who is undertaking bridging study for overseas trained professionals and will be resident in Australia for the duration of the study.
Holders of permanent visas and New Zealand citizens who do not meet these criteria are not eligible for FEE‐HELP and hence have to pay their fees upfront by the census date.
Compulsory Requirements for FEE-HELP
- Read the FEE-HELP Information booklet available at enrolment or online.
- Fill out a Request for Commonwealth Support and FEE-HELP form 1292(A).
- Provide your Tax File number (TFN). Applications for tax file numbers are available from the Tax Office website.
- Provide Proof of Citizenship if requested. Proof includes a certified copy of your Australian Birth Certificate, current Australian Passport or an Australian Citizenship Certificate.
Note: If you do not supply a TFN and you do not pay your student contribution up front by the census date then your enrolment will be cancelled.
FEE-HELP Limit
You can borrow up to the amount of the tuition fee for your unit of study. However, over your lifetime you can borrow only up to the FEE-HELP limit. Eligible people may borrow up to the FEE-HELP limit to pay tuition fees over their lifetime. In 2012, the FEE-HELP limit is $112,134.00 for medicine, dentistry and veterinary science students (as defined in the Higher Education Support ACT 2003 and $89,706 for all other students. The FEE-HELP limit is indexed on 1 January each year. If you use FEE-HELP to pay tuition fees, the amount you may borrow in future is reduced. Once you have borrowed an amount equal to the FEE-HELP limit (the indexed amount at that time), you will not be able to receive FEE-HELP to pay tuition fees. This applies even if you have partially or fully repaid your FEE-HELP loan.
The FEE-HELP limit is the total amount available to an eligible person under both the FEE-HELP scheme and the VET FEE-HELP scheme. This means that any amount borrowed under either FEE-HELP or VET FEE-HELP will reduce your FEE-HELP balance until the FEE-HELP limit is reached.
Loan Fee
Undergraduate
A loan fee of 25 per cent applies to FEE-HELP loans for undergraduate courses of study. The FEE-HELP limit does not include the loan fee.
Postgraduate
No loan fee applies to FEE-HELP loans for postgraduate courses, bridging courses for overseas-trained professionals or enabling courses.
Importance of the Due Date and Census Dates
The due date and census date are important because it is the deadline for all the following:
- Payment has to be made by the due date failing which a late fee of $200.00 is charged on overdue accounts.
- If you can’t pay by the due date – complete and submit a Request for FEE-HELP assistance (Form 1292A). Provide your Tax File Number (TFN), if you request a FEE-HELP loan.
- No FEE-HELP option can be exercised after the census date for the Teaching Period.
- Any outstanding payments if not paid may be referred to the Debt Collection agency incurring additional cost.
Please read the FEE HELP Information for 2012 and exercise the most beneficial option for yourself.
OS-HELP
What is OS-HELP?
OS-HELP is a loan scheme to assist eligible undergraduate students to undertake some of their Australian course of study overseas. Students may receive one loan per six-month study period for one or two overseas study periods.
OS-HELP is not available to students undertaking their whole course outside Australia.
The amount you borrow will be added to your HELP debt and will be repayable under the same conditions as the HELP debt.
Are you eligible for OS-HELP?
The above provides all the criteria for your eligibility.
How do you apply for OS-HELP?
You must apply to Swinburne Study Abroad for an OS-HELP loan see OS Help Application forms.
Swinburne may set a minimum loan amount and you cannot receive more than the maximum OS-HELP amount for a given six-month period which for 2012 is $5,824.00
Swinburne will contact you about whether your application for OS-HELP has been successful.
You will not receive your OS-HELP loan until you sign and submit the OS-HELP debt Confirmation form (1291). You must not sign the form until you have read the OS-HELP statement of terms and conditions booklet and the OS-HELP support for overseas study brochure.
Student Services and Amenities Fee and SA-HELP
The Federal Government has passed legislation to allow Australian universities to charge students an annual fee to raise money for student services and facilities.
Swinburne University will comply with this legislation and introduce a 'Student Services and Amenities Fee' on an annual basis, from 1 January 2012.
The maximum fee charged for a full time student will be $263 and will be indexed annually. For complete list of cohorts that are charged, refer to Students Services and Amenities Fee Table.
This fee can be used for student services which may include advocacy, food, sports and recreation, childcare, counselling, legal, health, housing and employment as well as independent student representation structures. No student will be forced to join any student organisation and the legislation expressly prohibits fee revenue being used to support a political party. Details of the Bill can be found at the DEEWR website.
Visit the DEEWR website for a list of Frequently Asked Questions on the Student Services and Amenities Fee and for further information go to www.goingtouni.gov.au and follow the links.
Students will be able to defer the payment through a SA-HELP loan scheme similar to FEE-HELP and HECS-HELP.
Criteria for Student Amenities Fee
Calculated and charged on the basis of mode and study load, and in accordance with the published schedule of Student Services and Amenities fees where a:
- Full-time rate is applicable to on-campus students with a study load of at least 75% of one Equivalent Full Time Study Load (EFTSL) per calendar year - $263.00.
- Part-time rate (75% of the full-time rate) is applicable to on-campus with a study load of less than 75% of one Equivalent Full Time Study Load (EFTSL) per calendar year - $197.00.
- Off-campus rate – Swinburne is charging only $100.00.
- Off-campus where all units in a calendar year are enrolled wholly in an off-campus mode (distance education).
- OUA-CSP students
Calculated for all teaching periods in a calendar year. See teaching periods and census dates.
Payable for all enrolled students on the date date shown on the Direct Deposit slip.
Students are ineligible for a refund when changes to their enrolment occur after a unit’s census date.
Applied to Swinburne students who undertake approved units of study at another institution (i.e. formal exchange programs, inter-campus exchange and incoming study abroad) for any units in which they are enrolled at Swinburne.
Goods and Service Tax
The Australian Tax Office does not require Swinburne University to apply the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to the student services and amenities fee.
Conditions where the Student Amenities Fee will be charged at zero dollars
- Students undertaking cross-institution studies at Swinburne who have, for the same period, paid a Student Services and Amenities Fee at their home institution will be charged zero dollars for the Student Amenities Fee at Swinburne, upon provision of documentary evidence of such payment from their home institution
- Students undertaking joint degrees as part of formally established arrangements between Swinburne University and an overseas university will be charged zero dollars for the Student Amenities Fee.
What is SA-HELP?
Eligible students who do not wish to pay the fee upfront to the University, can request assistance from the Commonwealth and defer the fee through a new element of the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) known as SA-HELP. Students will need to fill the Request for SA-HELP Assistance (Form1297A). Please read the SA HELP Information booklet 2012 before you exercise the option.
Eligible students may choose to pay some of the fee upfront and obtain a SA-HELP loan for the remainder or obtain a loan for the full amount of the fee.
The amount of the loan will be added to the student's accumulated HELP debt. An eligible student will be able to take out a SA-HELP loan even if they do not wish to take out any other HELP loan.
SA-HELP (Eligibility and Conditions)
- Eligible students who are Australian citizens or permanent humanitarian visa holders resident in Australia can access a SA-HELP loan.
- Students, who wish to access SA-HELP to defer the Student Services and Amenities Fee need to complete, sign and submit a Request for SA-HELP assistance form by the due date as determined by the University.
- A student’s SA-HELP debt is incurred in accordance with the published due dates.
- Students are not eligible for a refund of their SA-HELP after the SA-HELP debt is incurred.
- A student will only be required to apply for SA-HELP once for each course of study they are enrolled in at a provider.
- If a student changes courses or changes providers, the student will need to re-apply for SA-HELP.
There is no loan fee on SA-HELP
Students who do not meet the Eligibility Criteria for the SA-HELP have to make the payment to the University by the Due Date shown on your direct Deposit Slip.
Tracking of you SA-HELP will be similar to tracking your HEC-HELP (See page 5 of your SA Help Information Booklet
