FEE-HELP
Financial help for you to pay your tuition fees at UNSW.
Everything you need to know about the FEE-HELP loan scheme.
When you attend UNSW, you may be eligible to receive FEE‑HELP, a loan that uses the combined HELP loan limit to pay all or part of your tuition fees. Find out if you’re eligible and how to apply.
FEE-HELP information booklet
All applicants are required to read and understand this FEE-HELP information booklet (PDF) so that you are aware of your obligations as the recipient of assistance from the Commonwealth. Please be sure to read this as it explains in detail your obligations and responsibilities under the contract. Find out more on the Study Assist website.
From 1 January 2020, the Department of Education introduced a combined HELP loan limit.
- What is FEE-HELP?
- Am I eligible?
- How and when to apply
- Further FEE-HELP information
FEE-HELP is a loan available to eligible domestic students enrolled in fee-paying places (not subsidised by the Commonwealth) to help you pay all or part of your tuition fees. The borrowed amount becomes part of your HELP debt. There is a combined HELP loan limit on what you can borrow from the Australian Government to cover your fees. Your HELP debt must be repaid to the Government once you earn enough income to make repayments.
FEE-HELP does not cover costs like accommodation, laptops or textbooks. It will only cover tuition costs for Domestic Fee Paying (non-Commonwealth supported students), up to your available limit.
To get a FEE-HELP loan, you must:
- be an Australian citizen and study at least part of your course in Australia, or
- be a New Zealand Special Category visa (SCV) holder or eligible former New Zealand SCV holder; and meet the residency requirements (see below), or
- a permanent humanitarian visa holder or an eligible former permanent humanitarian visa holder who studies the entire course while living in Australia; or
- a pacific engagement visa holder who is resident in Australia for the duration of your unit(s)
- have a verified Unique Student Identifier (USI) and supplied this prior to the census date of your enrolment
- be enrolled in a domestic fee-paying place at UNSW, and
- be enrolled in an eligible course of study (program) at UNSW by the census date, and
- submit the Request for FEE-HELP form to UNSW by the census date, and
- have an available HELP balance.
If you do not satisfy the above criteria you are not eligible for a FEE-HELP loan at UNSW.
You can apply as part of your acceptance to UNSW. The form will present itself during your final stages of online acceptance if you are eligible.
Applications must be submitted before the relevant teaching period census date. Please refer to Payment and Census dates.
If you decide not to apply when you accept the offer of admission, you can access the FEE-HELP form through your myUNSW portal.
If you are unable to complete the form online contact The Nucleus: Student Hub
Understand more about FEE-HELP so you can feel confident if it’s right for you.
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You can borrow up to the FEE-HELP lifetime limit (combined HELP loan limit) to pay your tuition fees. This amount is indexed to increase each year.
The combined HELP loan limit is $113,028 in 2023. For Medicine and eligible Aviation (Flying) programs, this limit is increased to $162,336 in 2023.
The combined HELP loan limit is $121,844 in 2024. For Medicine and eligible Aviation (Flying) programs, this limit is increased to $174,998 in 2022.
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If you are not an Australian citizen, residency requirements apply.
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New Zealand citizens who formerly held a Special Category Visa and have transitioned to a permanent resident visa and meet the residency requirements below on the pathway to citizenship will have continued access to the Higher Education Loan Program.
The long-term residency requirements for New Zealand SCV holders are that you:
- first began to be usually resident in Australia at least 10 years ago,
- were a child under the age of 18 with no spouse or de facto partner when you first began to be usually resident in Australia, and
- have been in Australia for at least:
- a total of eight out of the past 10 years (from when you apply for the loan), and
- a total of 18 months out of the last two years (from when you apply for the loan).
If you do not meet ALL of the above long-term residency requirements, you cannot get a HELP loan.
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Permanent humanitarian visa holders and eligible former permanent humanitarian visa holders can access a HELP loan, if they meet the residency requirements.
An eligible former permanent humanitarian visa holder means a person who is:
- not a permanent humanitarian visa holder; and
- was previously a permanent humanitarian visa holder; and
- is the holder of a visa of the subclasses 155 and 157 (Resident Return).
You must reside within Australia during your study, unless it is required for the purpose of completing a requirement for a course. Residing overseas during your study will make you ineligible for a FEE-HELP loan.
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Pacific engagement visa holders can access a HELP loan, as long as they are resident in Australia for the duration of their courses.
A pacific engagement visa holder is a person who holds a Subclass 192 (Pacific Engagement) visa under the Migration Regulations 1994. This is a permanent resident visa for eligible individuals from participating countries across the Pacific and Timor-Leste.
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If you are a permanent or temporary resident (international student) you are not eligible for a FEE-HELP loan.
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New Zealand citizens and Humanitarian visa holders applicants are required to provide proof of their eligibility, in the form of;
- Movement records and a current passport (New Zealand citizens)
- Visa in passport or a Visa Grant Notice (Permanent Humanitarian Visa holders)
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Tuition for your studies will be shown as payable on your Fee Statement and NOT deferred to FEE-HELP until the census date for the enrolment has passed.
There can be multiple census dates within a term. Please refer to your Fee Statement for details. This does not mean you have to pay your tuition upfront if you have enough balance to defer to FEE-HELP, it means the deferral will happen after the census date. Please be sure to check your current HELP balance via myHELPbalance to know how much HELP you have available.
Payments made after the census date will not be applied to your tuition where the census date has passed, but will be applied to future enrolment.
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You are responsible for keeping track of your HELP balance and advising UNSW if you do not have enough HELP balance left to cover your tuition fees.
Your HELP balance is the amount of combined HELP you can access before you reach the HELP limit. This limit excludes any loan fee.
If you enrol in a unit and your tuition fees exceed your HELP balance, you will be asked to pay the difference upfront. Non-payment of your tuition fees may result in penalties and/or cancellation of courses. If referral to a collection partner is required to recover the unpaid fees, additional costs incurred will be added to your total debt.
If you do not formally withdraw from a course you do not wish to study, either through your myUNSW access or in writing to your program authority or The Nucleus: Student Hub, you will remain liable for the full cost of the course, regardless of attendance or submission of work for that course.
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To cancel your FEE-HELP assistance you must email your request from a registered UNSW address before the relevant census date to the Student Financials Team at fees@unsw.edu.au.
Please include the following;- State that you would like to cancel your FEE-HELP Assistance, effective from the current semester
- Include your full name, date of birth and student ID number
FEE-HELP cancellations will only apply to census dates that have not passed. Tuition already deferred under FEE-HELP will remain deferred if the census date for that course has passed.
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