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, with the fees for remaining units paid in advance.

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 $86,422 (2011 figure) in tuition fees may be paid using FEE-HELP over a student’s lifetime. 
• A loan fee of 25% 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 $86,422 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 $44,912 (the 2010/11 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.
  

Need more help?
If you need further information, contact the DEEWR student enquiry line on 1800 020 108 between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm.