Session 1: Program fundamentals

This presentation was delivered in Canberra on 29 January 2020. The VSL Induction Day is aimed at newly approved VSL providers, and staff that are new to existing VSL approved providers.

While every effort to ensure this presentation provides advice consistent with the VET Student Loans Act 2016 (the Act) and the VET Student Loans Rules 2016 (the Rules), if there is any discrepancy between the presentation and the legislation, the Act and the Rules take precedence.

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The Induction Day aims to make sure you know your responsibilities when implementing VET Student Loans.

These are the topics covered in the first session.

VET Student Loans is governed by legislation; it is the provider’s responsibility to ensure compliance with legislative requirements at all times.

There are several resources available to providers that give guidance on program requirements. Make sure you understand your obligations, and if in doubt, seek independent legal advice.

Throughout this presentation icons are used to represent references, these are:2

• Blue gavel - VET Student Loans Act 2016• Yellow gavel – VET Student Loans Rules 2016• Green gavel – VET Student Loans (Courses and Loan Caps) Determination 2016• Red book – the VET Student Loans Manual for Providers (Provider Manual)• Filing cabinet – reminder that evidence must be retained for at least 5 years

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This flow chart, available in the VSL Manual for Providers (Provider Manual), gives a

chronological, event-based representation of how the VSL program works.

(Note the ‘census day’ step shown here is in addition to the version in the Provider Manual).

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The Act and the Rules contain a number of provisions relating to marketing. It is your responsibility to implement business practices in line with the legislative requirements.

Marketing requirements are set out in section 4.10 of the Provider Manual, and also refer to the style guide for how to use the VSL logo. The style guide is available on the website.

Any marketing of an approved course being offered must prominently mention:• the provider’s name, registered business name (if any), and any other business name it uses;• the code included for the provider as a registered training organisation on the National

Register;• the maximum tuition fees for the course.

VSL providers cannot:• use inducements to get students to sign up for courses e.g. free laptops• cold call potential students to sell your courses with access to loans• use contact details received from other parties to call potential students to sell your courses

with access to loans• advertise VSL using social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)

Contact details received from other parties (third party contact lists) are permissible only under strict conditions – express consent must be given by the student for this purpose. Refer to section 138 of the VSL Rules to ensure you meet all these conditions if considering using third party contact lists.

Make sure you review all the different places you talk about your courses; websites, course guides, pamphlets or advertising posters, etc. These rules also apply to radio advertising. If you mention a specific course, you need to include this information.

Providers should note that the marketing provisions (section 60 – 64 of the Act) are civil penalty provisions. You must retain your marketing materials for five years.

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Providers must give students a range of information before their enrolment in a VET Student Loans approved course. This includes information about course fees, census days and provider processes.

This information must be given to all students planning to study an approved course, including those who do not plan to access a VET Student Loan.

For the legislation governing the requirements to give information to students, please see sections 50 and 56-57 of the VET Student Loans Act 2016, and sections 98-100 and 129 of the VET Student Loans Rules 2016.

For further information on information requirements for providers, refer to the VET Student Loans Manual for Providers (Provider Manual) (s4.11 Provision of Information to Students).

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The VSL Eligibility Tool on the My Skills website is designed to help prospective students gauge whether they are likely to qualify for a VSL.

Once students have answered seven simple questions, they can download a report, which provides further information (tailored to the responses given), and what documentation they’ll need to present to providers to verify their eligibility.

Providers are encouraged to direct prospective students towards the Eligibility Tool ahead of applying for a VSL.

From the My Skills homepage, hover over ‘more’ in the tool bar at the top of the page, then select ‘financial assistance’ (or use the link provided).

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Determining the eligibility for a VET Student Loan is the provider’s responsibility.

For Australian citizens, documentary evidence will essentially come down to one of the three documents shown here.

One exception is for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) students whose birth was not registered by the relevant state or territory authority. In this limited circumstance, students may submit a ‘Statutory Declaration – citizenship – ATSI student whose birth was not registered’ available under ‘Forms’ on the ‘Information for VSL approved providers’ webpage.

Note: For students born after 20/8/1986, if their Australian birth certificate shows one of their parents was born in Australia (before 20/8/1986), this is sufficient for citizenship eligibility for VSL purposes.

Section 4.7.1 of the Provider Manual provides detailed guidance on what documentation is required to help satisfy yourself that a student is eligible for a VSL.

Documentary evidence (s105 VSL Rules).

Citizenship and residency requirements (s11 VSL Act)Processes and procedures (s85 (2)(c) VSL Rules)

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For New Zealand Special Category Visa holders, some very specific requirements apply for VSL eligibility. Make sure you obtain and retain the appropriate evidence when assessing whether applicants meet these criteria.

Permanent Humanitarian Visa holders are the only other citizenship category that are eligible for a VSL.

Specific enquiries about the SCV, and other visas, should be directed to the Department of Home Affairs.

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Here are the basic academic suitability requirements. A more recent change is the inclusion of the International Baccalaureate.Providers must use one of the approved LLN tools listed here.

Providers seeking approval of a LLN assessment tool not listed here must ensure the tool has been verified and evaluated by a suitably qualified body in accordance with the ‘Assessment of LLN testing tools publication’, available on the Department’s website.

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Courses and Loan CapsThe Determination lists approved courses grouped into the four loan cap categories. If a course on the approved list is superseded, the replacement course is also approved for VSL. Loan caps are indexed annually; however, the Determination does not show indexed amounts. The indexed amounts are available on the ‘VSL Course Caps and Indexed Amounts’ fact sheet on the Department’s website.

The loan cap applies to the student for the specific course; if they commence a course with one provider then complete it with another, they will only be able to access what has not already been used with the original provider.

For example, a student is doing a course with a cap of $5,264, uses $2000 with Provider A, then moves to Provider B, they will only be able to access $3,264 with Provider B.

Course FeesThe cap is not the maximum that can be charged for a course, just the maximum loan that students can borrow. Setting fees is up to the provider. Refer to Section 4.5.5 of the Provider Manual ‘Gap fees and Payment Plans’ and section 4.8.10 ‘Determining tuition fees’.

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Census day provisions are designed to protect students, ensuring that their debt liability is proportionate to the amount of studies completed. They are intended to prevent students from incurring large debts that they may not be able to repay if, for example, they do not complete their studies.

Where students withdraw before the census day – students do not incur cost/loan/debt, and any upfront payments made must be refunded.

There must be at least three census days spread evenly across the course.

Each census day for each part of the course must be at least 20 per cent of the way between the start of the unit and the date when a student is reasonably expected to complete the unit.

A census day calculator is available on VSL provider page – just enter the start and end dates of the course and it will compute a compliant census date, with the exception of public holidays. That is, while weekends are taken into account, state/territory and/or Commonwealth public holidays are not. Check that your organisation is open for business on the date provided by the calculator; if not, move the census day to the next business day.

Units can be grouped into terms/semesters, but the 20 per cent rule must apply regardless of whether units are offered over a structured format such as with terms or semesters or more flexibly.

You can have more than three census days, just make sure that they are spread reasonably evenly across the duration of the course.

You must retain information about census days and tuition fees for approved courses for five years (s105 VSL Rules). Section 4.9 of the Provider Manual sets out census day provisions.

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Fees must be proportionately spread over the life of the course. This applies not only to the loan but to any gap fees charged by the provider.

The fees to be covered by VSL, and any other tuition fees, must be reasonably apportioned over:• the fee periods for the course (at least three), and• the parts of the course (i.e. units) included in the fee periods, and• none of the tuition fees for the course are to be payable outside a fee period for the course• the fee periods must be sequential and together equal the duration of the course, be of

approximately equal length and each contain at least one census day.

Ensure you retain evidence of how you have structured your course fees for a period of five years.

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Here is a simple example of spreading fees – and gap fees – proportionately over duration of course with at least three census days.

You can have more fee periods and census days, but not less than three.

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The Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form (eCAF) is a legally binding agreement for a student to pay tuition fees for a course with a loan from the Commonwealth Government.If a student wants to access a VSL, the student must submit an eCAF on or before census day (AEST) (s10, VSL Rules).Several fields in the eCAF cannot be revised once submitted by the student; these are date of birth, course, enrolment date, first census date, and citizenship.If you make a mistake and need an eCAF amended, contact the Department straight away; incorrect eCAFs could delay payment if not remedied immediately.Students cannot access VSL where the census date is before submission of the eCAF. Contact the Department if there are extenuating circumstances.Providers cannot invoice students to pay ‘covered fees’. (i.e., you will not be able to recoup fees from the student if they have not submitted their eCAF in time for the census day). To counter this, ensure that your administrative processes and cancellation policies cover this contingency.

TFNsPlease also be aware that eCAFs can be submitted even if the student’s TFN is not verified, or in cases where the student has applied for but not yet received their TFN.

In the case of a non-verified TFN, the student will receive notification within the eCAF system that their TFN has failed verification, and they will be prompted to confirm their details with the ATO.

If the TFN hasn’t been entered by the census day, reported data will not be paid. You will need to follow up with your students if their TFN was not supplied/verified at the time of submitting their eCAF. In the case of where a student has not yet received a TFN they have applied for, as soon as the student has the TFN the eCAF should be put in revision for the student to enter their TFN.

It’s important you keep in contact with students to make sure they get their eCAFs submitted in time, and update TFN details once received from the ATO. You can view the eCAF status through the eCAF system.

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All information and documents collected for the purposes of, or in relation to, an application by a student for a VET Student Loan, must be retained for five years.

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To edit enrolment data prior to eCAF submission:• click the Edit button;•make the required changes;• click the Update button to save the changes.

If the student has previously viewed their eCAF, they will be informed of the changes the next time they open their eCAF. If the student is currently viewing their eCAF then they will be informed of the changes when they refresh their browser.

Prior to submission by student an eCAF can be deleted, for example, if a student decides to not start the course.

After submissionFor eCAFs that have been submitted, these fields (in slide above) are locked for amendment.Other fields can be amended by putting eCAF into revision. When an eCAF is put into revision, the student must re-submit the eCAF within a two-week period, thereby accepting the change. If the student does not re-submit within that two-week period, the eCAF reverts back to the original information.

RevisionIf a student previously submitted a Certificate of Application for a TFN, and now has their TFN, the eCAF should be put into revision for the student to enter their TFN:(This process can also be used to edit other editable fields in the eCAF - such as fixing an incorrect census day):• Click on the Revise eCAF button > click YES to continue > click YES to go to the enrolment

information or NO to view the eCAF• The student will be sent a notification that their eCAF has been opened for revision. • Please advise the student to go back into their eCAF to enter their TFN and re-submit the

eCAF for the TFN to be saved. • If the student does not re-submit the eCAF it will revert back to what it was upon original

submission.

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Providers need to make students aware that if they do not confirm the revised eCAF within two weeks the information won't be updated. This is particularly so in the context of the TFN situation (where a student has applied for a TFN and then needs to update once it is received).

There are three main notices that need to be provided to students:

VSL Statement of Covered Fees – must be given before the first census day – essentially this notice provides clear information that the enrolment is based on access to a loan, and sets out the full cost of the course and the amount that will be covered by a VSL. Refer to s56 of the Act and s99 of the Rules.

VSL Fee Notice – this notice must be given to students at least 14 days before the first census day of each fee period. It is essentially like an invoice setting out full fee information relating to all census days within the fee period. Refer to s99 of the VSL Rules.

Commonwealth Assistance Notice – this notice must be given to students within 28 days after the census day. It is like a receipt. Only students accessing a VSL must be issued this notice. Refer to s100(4) of the Rules.

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Here is an example of a compliant Statement of Covered Fees. Refer to Appendix C in the Provider Manual.

Note: ensure you have changed previous references to ‘HELP debt’ to ‘VETSL debt’. While the legislation took effect from 1 July 2019, providers were given until 1 September 2019 to make the change.

It is most important to note that once you have issued this statement, you cannot charge a student for covered fees – even if they haven’t submitted a valid eCAF by the census day, so make sure your enrolment and cancellation policies cover this.

The Statement of Covered Fees must be given to all eligible students, regardless of whether they are accessing a VSL (e.g. not required to issue to international students). Refer to s56 Act and s129 Rules.

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This is an example of a compliant VSL Fee Notice. Providers are responsible for meeting the requirements of s99 of the Rules. Providers must send the notice to the student’s personal email address as advised by the student; or to the student’s postal address; or by another method as agreed to by the student.Refer to s99(4) Rules, and s4.11.3 and Appendix D of the Provider Manual.

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This is an example of a compliant Commonwealth Assistance Notice (CAN). Providers are responsible for ensuring that their CAN meets the requirements of s100 of the Rules. Providers must send the CAN to the student’s personal email address as advised by the student; or to the student’s postal address; or by another method as agreed to by the student.Refer to s100(4) of the Rules and s4.11.4 and Appendix E of the Provider Manual.

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The purpose of Progression Forms is to confirm that students are genuinely engaged and continuing their study, and for students to give authority for their loan to continue to be accessed to pay their tuition fees.

The provider triggers a progression for an eCAF at an appropriate point during the student's studies at least four months after starting their studies.

There are three fixed progression point milestones in the year; February, June and October. If a student starts a 12-month course in January, June and October Progression Forms will need to be issued.

Once you trigger a progression, the system emails the student an invitation to complete a Progression Form. As with eCAFs, the invitation will include details they require to sign-in to the eCAF system.

If a student loses this email (for instance if it gets put in their spam folder or deleted unintentionally), another copy of the email can be resent by the provider by clicking the ‘Resend progression invitation’ button.

Once the student completes and submits their Progression Form, providers can view progression outcome status. Providers cannot open submitted Progression Forms.

If/when a student fails to submit a Progression Form, and it expires, remember to resend the progression invitation to avoid payment errors.

Providers can request that the Department change their fixed progression milestone points in HITS (default set to Feb, June, October). Submit an online VSL Providers Form with supporting evidence to justify the proposed change.

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To ensure payments are not impacted, providers should trigger a Progression Form when they become aware that a student intends to defer or cancel their enrolment, or is returning for a break in studies.

If you have students that choose to take a break in their studies for whatever reason, they also suspend their access to a VSL. You cannot keep claiming loan payments while a student has deferred their study. You will need to trigger a Progression Form to activate this process.

For example, Jane defers her course on 1 June and returns to study on 30 September, these dates are reflected in submitted Progression Forms. Any census days between these dates will be ineligible for payment.

The ‘Student Obligations’ fact sheet was developed last year to remind students of their ongoing obligations when accessing a loan, and the importance of submitting Progression Forms. A link to this resource is now included in the eCAF system at the point of application, and in the Progression Form invitation emails to students. It is also available under ‘resources’ on the ‘Information for VSL students’ webpage.

If a student fails to submit two consecutive Progression Forms, payments to the provider will cease. It is important that providers monitor submissions through the eCAF system.

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Students can choose to cease accessing a VSL for whatever reason. For example, they may want to pay using an alternative means or they have withdrawn from the course.

If the student is still studying with you, you report the student differently in HEIMS – zero loan/HELP debt amount, with full amount of the fees in the ‘Amount paid Upfront’.

If the student is still undertaking the course and paying the tuition fees the provider still reports their student data in the Enrolment and Load Liability files but does not include them in the HELP due file.

END Session 1

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