Skills First Funding

Victorian Government Skills First Funding

Now is the ideal time to make a start on gaining new skills, or upgrading your existing skills, to help you get the job you want. The Victorian Government’s Skills First Funding is a program that provides eligible individuals with access to government-subsidized vocational education and training (VET) in Victoria. The program aims to provide high-quality, industry-relevant training that leads to employment outcomes and supports the state’s economic growth.

Under the Skills First Funding program, eligible students can receive government-subsidized training in a range of vocational education and training courses, including certificate and diploma level qualifications, as well as apprenticeships and traineeships.

Overall, the Skills First Funding program is an important initiative that helps to ensure that Victorians have access to high-quality vocational education and training that can lead to meaningful employment opportunities and contribute to the state’s economic growth.

Am I eligible?

From 1 January 2023, you need to meet these requirements to be eligible for Skills First subsidised training:

Citizenship/residency
You must be:

an Australian citizen, or
an Australian permanent resident, or
a New Zealand citizen.
a holder of one of the following Visas, Bridging Visa Class E or F, Safe Haven Enterprise Visa, Temporary Protection Visa or Humanitarian Stay (subclass 449) visa;
If you are an asylum seeker, you may be eligible if you provide a Referral to Government Subsidised Training – Asylum Seekers’ form from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre or the Australian Red Cross.

Physical location
You must be physically present in Victoria while participating in training and assessment.

Course limits
The ‘2 Skill Sets in a year’ and ‘2 AQF qualifications in a year’ limits

In a calendar year, a student may only commence a maximum of two:
a) Skills First subsidised Skill Sets; and
b) Skills First subsidised programs that are AQF qualifications.

The ‘2 at a time’ limit
A student may only commence a maximum of two Skills First subsidised programs at any one time.
Participation in the ‘22510VIC – Course in Identifying and Responding to Family Violence Risk’ will not be counted when determining if a student meets this limit.

For more information on the Skills First program visit https://www.vic.gov.au/skills-first

Concessions (if eligible for the Victorian government subsidised training)
A student enrolling in Certificate IV level and below are eligible for concession who prior to the commencement of training, holds a current and valid:

Health Care Card issued by the Commonwealth;
Pensioner Concession Card; or
Veteran’s Gold Card; or
A dependant spouse or dependant child of a cardholder is also entitled to the Fee Concession.

If you are a Victorian Government subsidised student, you may be entitled to a concession on your tuition fee if you meet additional eligibility criteria. If you are studying for a Diploma or above qualification you are not eligible to have a concession applied to your tuition fees. Under the Indigenous Completions Initiative, Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander students pay only the concession tuition fee (20% of the tuition fee for the course) for government subsidised training at all qualification levels (including at Diploma and above).