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VET Student Loans

Southern Cross Education Institute is an approved provider for VET Student Loans (previously VET FEE-HELP Loan Scheme). To be eligible to apply for a VET Student Loan, prospective student must meet the:

  • qualification entry and academic suitability requirements, and
  • Complete a pre training review with SCEI’s nominated officer
  • VET STUDENT LOANS eligibilities
For more information about VET Student Loans, you must read the VET Student Loans Information Booklet issued by the Australian Government.

More information for  FEE HELP Limit or maximum loan amounts and loan repayments can be found at www.studyassist.gov.au.

  1. Each qualification offered by SCEI has specific entry requirement that a prospective student must meet. There are listed on the SCEI website. The course information also includes:
  • including course structure,
  • entry requirements (example prior qualifications, industry experience)
  • addition requirements (police clearances, vaccinations, work with children check etc.)
  • course content and outcomes,
  • fees,
  • delivery and assessment arrangements
  • work placement (if applicable)
  1. A prospective student must also meet the academic suitability by providing evidence that they have completed:
  • Providing their Australian Year 12 Certificate or
  • Providing their International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB) diploma or
  • Providing evidence of successful completion of a qualification that has been delivered in English and:
      • was at level 4 or above in the Australian Qualifications Framework (that is Certificate IV or higher qualification), or at a level in a framework that preceded the AQF that is equivalent to level 4 or above in the AQF, or
      • has been assessed by a federal, state or territory government agency which assesses overseas qualifications (or an organisation contracted by such an agency to undertake such assessments) as equivalent or comparable to: a qualification at level 4 or above in the Australian Qualifications Framework, or a qualification at a level in a framework that preceded the AQF that is equivalent to level 4 or above in the AQF, or
  • Displaying competence at or above Exit Level 3 in the Australian Core Skills Framework in both reading and numeracy through an approved Language, Literacy and Numeracy test (and the provider reasonably believes the student displays that competence) and
  • In addition, the approved course provider must reasonably believe the student is academically suited to undertake the course; and the student must meet any other specified entry requirements for the course.

All domestic students seeking to enrol for study at SCEI are required to complete a Pre-training review (PTR) and Language, Literacy, and Numeracy (LLN) assessment prior to the enrolment in order to achieve the student intended outcomes.

LLN Robot is the LLN assessment tool approved by the Australian Government for assessing a student’s competency in reading and numeracy against the Australian Core Skills Framework.

 SCEI nominated officer will provide the prospective student with log-in details and instructions to access the LLN Robot. This LLN assessment tool may take 30 – 40 minutes to complete, and a report indicating your achieved ASCF level will be available on completion. To be able to access VET Student Loans, you must demonstrate competence in the ACSF at Level 3. The results of your LLN test will be formally communicated to you as soon as practicable after the assessment. A copy of your LLN test results will be retained into SCEI Student Management System for at least five (5) years after you enrol and will be made available to the Australian Government on request.

SCEI will use the results from the LLN assessment to form a reasonable opinion that a student is, or is not academically suited to undertake the chosen VET course for study. There may be occasions where it is suggested that you undertake an alternative course based on these results and your career goals.

 

Upon completion of the LLN Assessment the prospective student will be asked a serious of questions as part of your pre training review process to determent their specific needs and suitability for the qualification prior to enrolment.

Meet the citizen and residency eligibility requirements and Requirements:

  • be an Australian citizen or
  • a qualifying New Zealand citizen or
  • a permanent humanitarian visa holder, who is usually resident in Australia. Permanent Humanitarian visas are defined in the Migration Regulations 1994, Volume 1, Part 1, Regulation 1.03 – Definitions.
    See: Migration Regulations 1994 for the latest version of the Migration Regulations

 

Meet the Enrolment and Loan Application and Requirements:

  • Enrolling with an approved course provider in an approved course
  • Undertaking the course primarily at a campus in Australia
    Note: A student is not entitled to a VET Student Loan if   the course is undertaken by the student primarily at an    overseas campus [Act s 10(2)]. Similarly, if the student intends on studying overseas via distance education for their entire course, they will not meet the requirement to undertake the course primarily at an Australian campus.
  • Has a HELP balance that is more than $0 (that is, has not used all their HELP loan limit)
  • Meet the Tax File Number (TFN) requirements – that is, include the student’s tax file number or a certificate from the Commissioner stating that the student has applied for a tax file number
  • Have the student’s Unique Student Identifier (USI)
  • Read and Understand on the VET Student Loans Information Booklet

 

Administrative Requirements:

There are other important administrative requirements that you need to be aware of when applying for VET Student Loans. SCEI will collect and verify your identity, date of birth and eligibility. Please ensure that you

  1. Are enrolled prior to the commencement of the qualification or unit/s of study.
  2. Review, Complete and submit a valid Request for a VET Student Loan eCAF before the first Census Date of the classes through Australia Government eCAF System. You will receive an email from the Australian Government allowing you to sign into the eCAF System. You will be required to sign-in, verify your information and complete the mandatory fields prior to submission of your application for access to VET Student Loans. You must read the VET Student Loans Information Booklet for more information before you apply for a VET Student Loan.

Once you are deemed eligible to access a VET Student Loan:

  1. You will receive a Confirmation of Enrolment issued by SCEI as well as a statement of Covered Fees of the course in which you are enrolled. This statement will include the tuition fees associated to your enrolment, tuition fees covered by the VET Student Loans up to the capped amount, the amount not covered by the VET Student Loans that must be paid or set up a payment plan with our Account Team prior to the start of your classes and census dates relevant to your enrolment.
  2. SCEI will provide a ‘cooling off’ period. Your request can only be processed after two (2) business days following your enrolment into the unit/s of study for the qualification.
  3. A VET Student Loan Fee Notice 14 days prior to census date The VET Student Loan Fee Notice will give you notice of the part of the course in which you have enrolled into and, a Government loan fee amount that may apply to you.

Once you have been approved with a VET Student Loan

  1. You will also receive a Commonwealth Assistance Notice within 28 dates from the Census date for the course or part thereof and for which you have accessed a VET Student Loan.
  2. You will be required to communicate your agreement to the Australian Government during the course of your study to continue to access the VET Student Loans program for payment of your tuition fees in the course in which you have enrolled.
  3. Submit your VET Student Loan progression form
    • You must complete all progression forms issued by the Government. They’re issued in February, June and October of each year.
    • The Department will send an email to your nominated email account when it’s time to complete your progression forms.
    • You have 14 days to complete the progression form. However, if you missed the deadline or if you made a mistake in the way you responded on the form contact us. We can initiate a new Progression form immediately. Once submitted correctly your VET Student Loan eligibility continues and you can continue study using the VETSL to defer your fees.
    • Relevant Links:
      1. https://www.dese.gov.au/vet-student-loans/resources/vet-student-loans-information-booklet
      2. https://www.dese.gov.au/vet-student-loans/vet-information-students https://www.studyassist.gov.au/
    • If you don’t submit your progression forms, your VET Student Loan will be cancelled, and you’ll need to pay your tuition fees to SCEI.

Government Loan Fee Amount 

  • A Government loan fee amount may apply to you if you are a full fee paying student. This loan fee amount is 20% and will be added to the HELP debt amount for the course.

Loan Caps

VET Student Loans are only available for approved courses at the diploma, advanced diploma, graduate certificate and graduate diploma level that are specified by the VET Student Loans (Courses and Loan Caps) Determination 2016.

The courses and loan caps determination specifies the courses for which VET Student Loans may be granted, sets the maximum loan amounts for those courses and provides for the annual indexation of the maximum loan amounts.

You cannot borrow more than the maximum loan amount for your course. The amount available will be indexed each year. The indexed amounts are available at VET Student Loans.

You can search for VET Student Loans approved courses and find out the maximum loan caps at My Skills.

Approved course providers may charge tuition fees for courses in excess of the loan cap amount, and you may have to pay the gap between the loan amount and the tuition fee as you progress through your course.

Your HELP balance (the amount of your HELP loan limit you have left) is more than $0. This means you have enough HELP loan limit remaining for your proposed studies to be covered by the loan. The HELP loan limit is the limit on how much you can borrow. Any borrowing under FEE-HELP, VET FEE-HELP, VET Student Loans and, from 1 January 2020, HECS-HELP will count towards your HELP loan limit. 

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