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Archived PublicationsFact Sheet (for latest Fact Sheets please go to Fact Sheets 2004)6. Higher Education Loan Programme – FEE-HELP & OS-HELPA new suite of loans will be introduced called the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP), which will incorporate the current HECS scheme (with some changes) [see Fact sheet: HECS-HELP] and two new loan schemes: Fee paying HELP (FEE-HELP) to help eligible students who are paying full fees in public and eligible private higher education institutions; and Overseas Study HELP (OS-HELP) to help eligible students who wish to study overseas. Fee Paying HELP (FEE-HELP)Students paying full fees for an undergraduate course do not currently have access to an income contingent loan scheme. This is unfair and clearly works against students with reduced financial means. The new FEE-HELP scheme will offer all eligible students an income contingent loan facility to pay their undergraduate or postgraduate fees in courses in public or eligible private institutions. Students will be able to access a loan up to the amount of the full tuition fee charged for the course they are undertaking, to a limit of $50,000. For students at private higher education institutions to have access to FEE-HELP, the institution must be listed as a higher education institution on the Australian Qualifications Framework Register; be subject to audit by the Australian Universities Quality Agency; and meet additional quality assurance and reporting requirements as specified by the Commonwealth. FEE-HELP will encourage lifelong learning and the upgrading and acquisition of new skills. It will also help to remove barriers to national and personal investment in education, training and skills development. Enrolments in undergraduate fee paying courses in both public and private institutions are likely to increase. This will help to reduce the level of unmet demand for higher education places and enable students to access their preferred course or institution, instead of taking up a HECSHELP place in a course they do not want. Debts accrued under FEE-HELP will be indexed to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 3.5 percentage points each year for a maximum of ten years, before returning to indexation by the CPI. FEE-HELP will commence in 2005, absorbing the Postgraduate Education Loan Scheme (PELS), Open Learning Deferred Payment Scheme (OLDPS) and Bridging for Overseas-Trained Professionals Loan Scheme (BOTPLS). Current PELS students, and PELS students commencing in 2004, will continue to have access to PELS up until the end of 2008 or until they discontinue or complete their current course if this occurs before 2008. Under FEE-HELP, students studying through Open Universities Australia (OLA) may borrow up to the full amount of the tuition fee charged by OLA. Overseas Study HELP (OS-HELP)Current rates of Australian students studying overseas are very low compared with international standards. Expanding Australian students’ experiences of the social, economic and political systems of other countries is crucial in building Australia’s capacity to engage in the international market and establish relationships with people and organisations in other countries. Such skills are invaluable in terms of Australia’s trade, foreign relations and security interests. OS-HELP will assist eligible full-time undergraduate students in Commonwealth supported places at public higher education institutions to study abroad for one or two semesters of their degree programme. It will offer students loans of up to $5,000 per semester to finance their overseas study. OS-HELP will assist students with travel and living expenses while overseas as the majority of students undertaking formal exchange programmes are exempt from tuition fees. Tuition costs will only apply where the student is not studying under a formal exchange programme and in such cases would need to be met by the student. Students would not be eligible to apply for a loan until they had successfully completed the first year of their course and the loan would not cover overseas study undertaken during a final year of a course. Debts accrued under OS-HELP will be indexed to the CPI plus 3.5 percentage points each year for a maximum of ten years, before returning to indexation by the CPI. If a student has an existing HECS or HECS-HELP debt and, FEE-HELP and/or OS-HELP debt, compulsory repayments will be directed to the HECS or HECS-HELP debt first. Voluntary repayment of FEE-HELP and OS-HELP debts will not attract a bonus. In 2005, a total of 2,500 OS-HELP loans will be available, increasing to a total of 10,000 loans per year by 2008. Loans will be distributed between eligible institutions for allocation to students. The reforms outlined in this fact sheet are subject to the passage of Commonwealth legislation. Full implementation details for the reforms will be provided over the coming months. Contact DetailsMedia inquiries:
Other inquiries:
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Any comments or
queries should be sent to:
highered@dest.gov.au
Department of Education, Science and Training
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