VET Student Loans

Study now and pay later at Hammond Institute

The Commonwealth Government has replaced the VET FEE-HELP student loan scheme with VET Student Loans, an income-contingent loan scheme that assists eligible students to pay for all or part of their VET tuition fees.

For a full list of VET Student Loan-eligible courses, visit https://www.employment.gov.au/vet-student-loans. Hammond Institute is approved to offer a selection of VET Student Loans eligible courses that are on the Department of Education and Training’s list. Each VET Student Loans eligible course has an associated capped amount. Eligible students are only entitled to loans up to the specified capped amount of each VET Student Loans eligible course.

VET Student Loans courses offered by Hammond Institute:

Students do not have to repay the VET Student Loans until their income is above the minimum repayment threshold for compulsory repayment. Voluntary payments may be made at any time.

For more information about the VET Student Loans, visit https://www.employment.gov.au/vet-student-loans.

Alternatively, you can view the Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business YouTube video for an overview of the VET Student Loan program and your obligations.

ELIGIBILITY

To receive a VET Student Loan, you must:

be studying an approved course
provide a parent/guardian consent form if under the age of 18
be academically suited
an Australian citizen Or a qualifying New Zealand citizen Or a permanent humanitarian visa holder.
have not exceeded the VETSL debt (VET Student Loan debt) limit
have not exceeded the course cap
meet the Tax File Number (TFN) requirements
have a Unique Student Identifier (USI)or otherwise be exempt
confirm your engagement and progression to continue to access the loan throughout your course.

PARENTAL/GUARDIAN CONSENT FORM (UNDER 18)

If you are under 18 years of age, a parent/guardian must complete and sign a VET student loans (VSL) parental consent form(external link).

This form must be provided to us prior to an electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form (eCAF)(external link) being issued.

Please note: this is not required if you have been assessed by Centrelink as meeting the requirements of receiving the independent Youth Allowance. In this case, you need to provide your Centrelink Income Statement.

TAX FILE NUMBER (TFN) REQUIREMENTS

If you decide to defer your fees via a VET Student Loan (VETSL debt), you will need to apply for a TFN in advance. Your TFN must be valid and your personal details with Hammond Institute must match those held by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Hammond Institute is not notified about your invalid TFN until several weeks after you submit your Commonwealth Assistance Form. You will receive an email notification once we’re advised that your TFN can’t be validated – urgent action is required at this point if you want to keep your VETSL debt.

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR DEBT

You can keep track of your debt by verifying the Commonwealth Assistance Notice that we provide you. Or you can access this information on these government websites.

MYHELPBALANCE

myHELPbalance will help you keep track of how much you have borrowed under the various HELP loans from 2005 onwards.

Please note, there is a time lag between the census day and when your information on myHELPbalance is updated.

MYGOV

myGov allows you to get more information about your VETSL debt (VET Student Loan debt) online.

It will show:

all of your current VETSL debt
any indexation (increase) that has been applied to your debt
any repayments that you have made, so you can see how much you have left owing.