VET Student Loans

Vocational Education and Training (VET) Student Loans are an Australian Government loan scheme for the Vocational Education and Training sector that is part of the VET Student Loans (VSL) Program.

Students studying certain Diplomas and Advanced Diplomas who elect not to pay their tuition fees upfront may be eligible to apply for a VET Student Loan to defer the cost of their Tuition Contribution. Courses will be subject to maximum loan caps and students will be required to pay any fee over and above that cap.

For a full list of VET Student Loan eligible courses, visit the Department of Education and Training website. Each VET Student Loan eligible course has an associated capped amount. Eligible students are only entitled to loans up to the specified capped amount of each VETSL Student Loan-eligible course.

A VET Student Loan is repaid through the tax system once a person reaches the minimum income threshold level of repayment. The VET Student Loan remains a personal debt obligation until it is repaid to the Commonwealth and may affect (by reducing) a person’s take-home (after tax) wage or salary until the debt is repaid. It may also affect the borrowing capacity of the person until the debt is repaid to the Commonwealth.

VET Student Loans cannot be used to pay general service fees, consumable fees or bookshop fees associated with your course. You will need to make payment of these fees directly to us.

Further information on VET Student Loans and approved courses is available from the Department of Education and Training.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a VET Student Loan you must:

be an Australian citizen; OR
be a New Zealand Special Category Visa (SCV) holder who meets the long-term residency requirements; OR
be a permanent humanitarian visa holder

AND

be assessed by South West TAFE as academically suited to undertake the approved course by either:

providing your Australian Year 12 Certificate; OR
providing evidence of successful completion of an Australian Qualifications Framework Certificate IV or higher qualification (where the language of instruction is English); OR
displaying competence at exit level 3 in the Australian Core Skills Framework in both reading and numeracy through an approved Language, Literacy and Numeracy test.

South West TAFE must reasonably believe you show competence in completing the course. This will be determined through your pre-training review process.

AND

Be studying an approved course
Apply to the government using the eCAF (Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form) application process
Confirm your engagement and progression to continue to access the loan throughout your course.

How to apply

To apply for a VET Student Loan you must:

Have been enrolled in an approved course, no less than two business days prior to submitting your eCAF application; AND
Read the VET Student Loans information booklet; AND
Meet the citizenship or residency requirements (as above); AND
Provide a Tax File Number; AND
Provide a unique Student Identifier (USI) AND
Complete and lodge a Request for VET Student Loan form prior to the census date for each unit.

Further information on how you can apply for a VET Student Loan is available at VET Student Loans page of the Department of Education website.

Census dates for each unit of study are predetermined and students will not incur VETSL Student Loan liability until after each census date.

SWTAFE census dates are specified below on VETSL Student Loans Census Dates

Further Information