FEE-HELP

Students in any MCD course who are Australian citizens, or hold a permanent humanitarian visa, can have their tuition fees met by a loan from the Commonwealth Government. The scheme – established by the Higher Education Support Act (2003) – is called the Higher Education Loan Program: FEE-HELP for short.

To apply for a FEE-HELP loan, you must fill in the Government form and hand it in to the Academic Records Office, which will then forward it to the MCD. Please return completed forms by end of the first teaching week of each semester (for new applications). Forms and the FEE-HELP Information 2010 booklet are available from CTC. Your tuition fees will be paid to the MCD office by the Commonwealth, and CTC will receive payment for your tuition and library use.

Before you apply for a loan, note the following carefully:
a) The Government requires that, before you sign the FEE-HELP form, you must read the FEE-HELP Information 2010 booklet so that you are aware of your obligations under the scheme. If you participate in FEE-HELP, your details will be listed in DEST’s Higher Education Information Management Scheme (HEIMS), and you will receive a Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number (CHESSN), which remains unique to you for life.

b) For undergraduate courses (BTheol, DipPhil, DipMin, AdvDipMin) the Government adds a one-off 20% loan fee to your tax liability: a unit costing $888 will thus incur a tax liability of $1,065.60.
For postgraduate courses (GradCert, GradDips, Masters, Doctorates) no further charge applies.

c) You must have a Tax File Number to apply for a FEE-HELP loan (see further below). Your loan is repaid through the tax system (like HECS). When your income reaches $43,151 (the 2009/2010 figure – it will be indexed upwards) you pay a proportion back with your tax. The higher your income, the higher the repayment proportion, starting at 4.0%. Voluntary early repayment over $500 receives a discount of 10%.
Your FEE-HELP tax liability increases by the CPI on June 1st each year, but remains stable in ‘real dollar’ terms. If someone with a FEE-HELP debt dies, only the repayment due in that tax year is billed; the rest is cancelled.

d) You can take out a maximum FEE-HELP loan of $50,000 in total during your lifetime, and are entitled to seven (full-time) years of Student Learning Entitlement (SLE), normally through HECS support. As HECS is not available to MCD students, using FEE-HELP for MCD study does not use up any of your SLE.

The MCD and CTC takes your right to privacy seriously, and only uses information you provide for the purpose for which you give it. The top page of the FEE-HELP form includes your Tax File Number (TFN), which is seen by only two people in the MCD office; the CTC office keeps a copy of the second page, which does not include your TFN.

For further information:
Read the FEE-HELP Information 2010 booklet
Visit the Going to Uni Website at www.goingtouni.gov.au
Call the FEE-HELP enquiry line on 1800 020 108

The government sets a census date for each unit. All enrolments in relation to FEE-HELP loans must be finalised at CTC by this date.