Eligible students enrolled in a full-fee paying place may be able to get help paying their fees through the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP), administered by the Government.
There are HELP loans available to assist you with the cost of your course.
FEE-HELP
FEE-HELP is a loan scheme to help eligible domestic full-fee paying students pay for all or part of their tuition fees. It cannot be used for additional study costs such as accommodation or text books.
VU Polytechnic students should see our information on VET Students Loans.
Borrowing limits
The total amount of FEE-HELP a person can use is set by the combined HELP loan limit, which from 1 January 2020 will indicate the cap on the amount a student can borrow from the Australian Government. It combines the debt for HECS-HELP, FEE-HELP, VET FEE-HELP and VET Student Loans.
For 2023, eligible students can borrow up to the combined HELP loan limit to pay their tuition fees.
The combined HELP loan limits are as follows:
- medicine, dentistry and veterinary science courses $162,336
- all other students $113,028.
Available HELP balance
Once you start using FEE‑HELP, the amount of HELP you have left to use is known as your ‘HELP balance’, which you can check on your Commonwealth Assistance Notice.
HELP loans are renewable. The available HELP balance is calculated as your HELP loan limit of that year, minus your HECS-HELP, FEE HELP, VET FEE-HELP and VET Student Loans borrowing. This means that making a repayment will increase your available HELP balance up to the HELP loan limit, and taking out a loan will reduce your available HELP balance.
Read more about the combined HELP loan limit, renewable HELP balance and Fee-HELP on the Study Assist website.