FEE-HELP

Wesley Institute is an approved Higher Education Provider (HEP) under the Commonwealth Higher Education Support Act (HESA). This means that eligible students enrolling in the Institute’s awards can apply for FEE-HELP assistance.

FEE-HELP is a Commonwealth Government interest-free loan given to eligible fee-paying students to help pay their tuition fees. Eligible students are Australian citizens and holders of permanent humanitarian visas. FEE-HELP is available to both full-time and part-time students and there is no means test.

Eligible students can elect to defer the payment of units using FEE-HELP for all units, or for some units only. Remaining units can be paid through up front payment.

The key features of the loan scheme are as follows:

• Instead of paying fees in advance, a student may take out a FEE-HELP loan to pay for all or part of their tuition fees.
• A maximum of $83,313 (2009 figure) in tuition fees may be paid using FEE-HELP over a student’s lifetime.
• A loan fee of 20% applies to FEE-HELP loans for undergraduate courses. This fee is added to the student’s debt at the time of enrolment in each unit of study. The $83,313 limit does not include the loan fee.
• No loan fee applies to FEE-HELP loans for postgraduate courses.
• Students repay their loan through the tax system. When the student’s income reaches $41,595 (the 2008/9 figure) the student pays a proportion back with their tax. The higher their income, the higher the repayment, starting at 4%. The FEE-HELP application requires the student’s Tax File Number, which will only be seen by Administration staff and held in secure file storage.
• Students may make a voluntary repayment to the Tax Office any time before lodging their income tax return and receive a 10% bonus on payments of $500 or more.
• Interest is not applied to FEE-HELP debts. However, the debt itself will be indexed annually to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
• FEE-HELP does not affect a student’s entitlements to Youth Allowance, Austudy or Abstudy.
• The FEE-HELP debt is added to any existing HECS debt, and the total treated as a single debt. The maximum FEE-HELP available is not affected by any existing HECS debt.
• Any remaining FEE-HELP debt is cancelled at death.

During Orientation the Registrar’s Office provides eligible student with a Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) FEE-HELP Information Booklet and Request for FEE-HELP Assistance form to enable them to apply for the loan. The FEE-HELP Information Booklet is also available at www.goingtouni.gov.au