FEE-HELP

Acknowledge Education Pty Ltd has been approved by the Commonwealth Government to offer FEE-HELP.

FEE-HELP is a loan for students enrolled in fee-paying places. These places are not subsidised by the Commonwealth, but eligible students may use a FEE-HELP loan to pay all or part of their tuition fees.

Your HELP loan must be repaid to the Government once you earn enough income to make repayments (this is known as the repayment threshold). You should think about how this will affect you in the long term before you apply, as having a HELP debt may affect access to bank and home loans.

You can only get FEE-HELP if you meet the citizenship and residency requirements. You must be either:

• an Australian citizen who will complete at least one unit of your course of study in Australia.
• a NZ SCV holder who meets the long-term residency requirements and who is resident in Australia for the duration of your unit(s)
• a permanent visa holder who held a NZ special category visa immediately prior to your permanent visa and you previously met the long-term residency requirements.
• a permanent humanitarian visa holder or eligible former permanent humanitarian visa holder who is resident in Australia for the duration of your unit(s)
• a permanent visa holder who is undertaking bridging study for overseas-trained professionals and who is resident in Australia for the duration of your unit(s)
• a pacific engagement visa holder who is resident in Australia for the duration of your unit(s) (see note)

Note: a pacific engagement visa holder becomes eligible from 1 February 2024.

You must also:

• meet the TFN requirements.
• meet the USI requirements.
• have enough available HELP balance.
• be assessed as a genuine student and as academically suitable for your unit of study.
• maintain a reasonable study load of no more than 2 EFTSL per year unless approved by AE to study a higher load.
• be enrolled correctly at AE on or before the census date.
• have read the FEE-HELP booklet
• have submitted a valid FEE-HELP eCAF to AE on or before the census date (or earlier administrative date).

HELP loan limit

Since 1 January 2020, there has been a ‘HELP loan limit’ on what you can borrow for your study. The HELP loan limit includes all previous FEE-HELP, VET FEE-HELP (closed) and VET Student Loan amounts you have borrowed. It also includes any HECS-HELP loans for units with a census date on or after 1 January 2020.

The HELP loan limit will be $121,844 for most students with census dates in 2024.

You incur a FEE-HELP debt immediately after the census date for the study period for which you received FEE-HELP assistance.  If you have requested a FEE-HELP loan, but change your mind about studying, you must cancel or defer your enrolment in writing from the subject(s) on or before the census date or you will incur a debt to the Commonwealth Government.

Any changes to government legislation will be updated when available. For more information about FEE-HELP, your rights and obligations, please visit the Commonwealth Government website.