1. Be an eligible student
2. Be studying an approved course
3. Be studying with an approved provider
4.Apply to the government using the approved electronic commonwealth assistance form (eCAF) on or before 11:59pm AEST on or before the first census day, no less than 2 business days after enrolling
5. Confirm your engagement and progression to continue to access the loan throughout your course
6. Be an Australian Citizen; or A New Zealand Special Category Visa (SCV) holder who meets the long term residency requirements; or a permanent humanitarian visa holder
7. Not have exceeded the FEE-HELP limit (for the 2021-22 financial year this is $109206, for most students)
8. Have been assessed as academically suited by ASG to undertake the course by either:
a) providing your Year 12 Certificate; or
b) providing your International Baccalaureate Diploma Program or (IB) diploma; or
c) providing evidence of successful completion of an AQF qualification delivered in English and:
- was at Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) level 4 or higher, or a framework that preceded the AQF that is equivalent to level 4 in the AQF; or
- has been assessed by a federal, state or territory government agency which assesses overseas qualifications as equivalent or comparable to:
- a qualification at level 4 or above in the AQF; or
- a qualification at a level in a framework that preceded the AQF that is equivalent to level 4 in the AQF
d) undertaking an approved LLN assessment tool as displaying competence at, or above, Exit Level 3 in the Australian Core Skills Framework (ASCF) in both reading and numeracy and where ASG reasonably believes that you display that competence
9. Meet the Tax File Number requirements:
- you must have a valid TFN by the census date
- if you don’t have a TFN you can apply for one from the ATO website and receive a Certificate of Application which you must use to upload your TFN to your eCAF before you submit
- you must advise ASG as soon as you receive your TFN from the ATO. If you do not provide your TFN you will not be able to use a VSL for that study period.
10. Have or obtain a Unique Student Identifier (USI)
You should also understand that:
- you will incur a loan from the Australian Commonwealth Government who will, on your behalf, pay your tuition fees to ASG
- a loan fee of 20% applies (this is added to your VETSL debt at the ATO)
- you will have the loan as a personal debt until it is repaid to the Commonwealth
- you must repay your VSL debt when your income exceeds the repayment threshold. For the 2021-2022 year this is $47014, and is adjusted annually.
- until the debt/loan is repaid, may have their take-home (after tax) wage or salary and borrowing capacity reduced;
- you may wish to seek independent financial advice before applying for the loan