FEE-HELP Loan

You are eligible to obtain a FEE-HELP loan if you are:

• an Australian citizen;
• a holder of a permanent humanitarian visa;
• a New Zealand citizen who has been a long-term resident of Australia since childhood and meets certain eligibility criteria 
• a holder of a permanent visa who is undertaking a bridging course for overseas-trained professionals

Other New Zealand citizens and permanent residents are not eligible to defer their tuition fees to FEE-HELP and must pay their fees upfront.

Apply through the Flinders Student system.

View Fee-paying student tuition fees.

For 2023, the combined HELP loan limit will be $113,028 for most students. For students undertaking medicine, dentistry, veterinary science or approved aviation courses, the HELP loan limit will be $162,336.

From 1 January 2020, a combined HELP loan limit replaced the FEE-HELP limit and includes FEE-HELP, VET Student Loans, VET FEE-HELP and HECS-HELP. Only HECS-HELP borrowings from 1 January 2020 count towards a person's HELP limit. Any existing FEE-HELP, VET FEE-HELP or VET Student Loans that counted towards your FEE-HELP limit prior to 1 January 2020 are counted towards the HELP limit.

From the 2019-2020 income year, repayments made towards HELP loans will top up your HELP balance.

Any compulsory or voluntary repayments can be re-borrowed in the future, up to the then current HELP loan limit.

More information at Study Assist.

To obtain FEE-HELP you must complete a Request for FEE-HELP assistance form.

Log on to the Student System and follow the prompts from the 'My Commonwealth Assistance' tab.

A completed Request for FEE-HELP assistance form must be received by the relevant census date for the topics concerned to ensure that your enrolment is not cancelled.

You do not need to start repaying your FEE-HELP debt until your income is above the minimum threshold for compulsory repayment.  In the 2022 - 2023 tax year the income threshold is $48,361.

Visit the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website for more information about repayments, including early voluntary repayments.

To check your current outstanding HELP balance, you can either contact the ATO on 13 28 61 or log in to myGov and click on the 'Accounts' tab to access your 'loan accounts'. 

For more information about accessing your current outstanding HELP balance, visit the ATO's Repaying your student debt website.

When enrolled in a full fee-paying undergraduate place, there is a 20 per cent FEE-HELP loan fee applied.

The loan fee does not count towards the HELP loan limit.

The loan fee is applied to each unit of study. For example, if you are studying a unit that costs $1,000, the loan fee for that unit will be $200. Therefore, your total FEE-HELP debt for that unit will be $1,200.