SA-HELP

A SA-HELP loan allows students to borrow from the Commonwealth to cover some or all of their Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF).

Students who receive a SA-HELP loan will have part or their entire SSAF paid to the University by the Commonwealth and a SA-HELP debt recorded for them with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Eligibility

To be eligible for SA-HELP, you must:

  • be an Australian citizen OR a permanent humanitarian visa holder OR an eligible New Zealand Special Category Visa holderÌý²¹²Ô»å will undertake at least some of your program of study in Australia,
  • complete and submit a Request for SA-HELP Assistance form (see the applying section below) for each program you are enrolled in by the census date,
  • provide your Unique Student Identifier (USI) before enrolling,Ìý²¹²Ô»å
  • provide your Tax File Number or a Certificate of application for a tax file number before the due date.

Holders of permanent visas, and New Zealand Citizens, who do not meet the above eligibility criteria, are not eligible for SA-HELP, and must pay their SSAF to the University by the invoice due date.

SA-HELP eligible students may pay their SSAF in one of the following ways:

  • pay the full SSAF to the University by the invoice due date
  • receive a SA-HELP loan for the full SSAF
  • pay some of the SSAF to the University by the invoice due date and receive a SA-HELP loan for the remainder of the SSAF.

Applying

To apply for SA-HELP, eligible students must complete a Request for SA-HELP assistance form. To submit a Request for SA-HELP assistance form log into Ìý²¹²Ô»å:

  1. Select the 'My Finances' Menu
  2. Select 'Payment Category'
  3. Select the 'Apply for SA-HELP' button
  4. Follow the prompts, enter your TFN where required, and answer all questions on the form
  5. Select 'Submit Form'

*·¡±ô¾±²µ¾±²ú±ô±ðÌýNew Zealand Special Category Visa holders will need to provide evidence of their eligibility in person at Ask ÐÂÀ˲ÊƱ, Hub Central, by the due date as printed on their SSAF invoice, otherwise their application will not be valid.

Please note that SA-HELP is a separate application from HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP. To defer your SSAF to SA-HELP you must apply for SA-HELP in Access ÐÂÀ˲ÊƱ.

A student is only required to apply for SA-HELP once for each program of study. If a student is admitted to a new program of study and wants to defer the SSAF to SA-HELP the Request for SA-HELP assistance form must be completed.

Repayment of SA-HELP loan

There is no capacity under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 for the provider to remit a SA-HELP debt incurred by a student, therefore any SA-HELP debt at the due date will remain.

Within 28 days of the census date, the University will send you a Commonwealth Assistance Notice (CAN) showing the amount of SSAF deferred to a SA-HELP loan.

Repayment of a SA-HELP debt is compulsory when your taxable income is above the minimum repayment threshold set by the Australian Government - refer to Repayment of HELP debt.