VET Student Loans (VSL)

Who is eligible for a VSL?

The best way to check your eligibility is to use the interactive tool provided by the My Skills Government website here.

Citizenship

To be eligible for a VET Student Loan, you must either:

• be an Australian citizen, or
• hold an eligible permanent humanitarian visa and usually reside in Australia, or
• be a New Zealand citizen on Special Category Visa (SCV subclass 444) and meets the following long-term residency requirements:
  • You began living in Australia at least 10 years before applying for a loan, and at that time, you were a child under 18 years of age and did not have a spouse or de-facto partner; and you have resided in Australia for at least eight of the 10 years immediately prior to applying and at least 18 months of the last two years.

Note: Holders of other permanent visas and temporary visas are NOT eligible for a VET Student Loan

In addition to the Citizenship requirements, you must also meet the following:

Academic Suitability Requirements

To be eligible for a VET Student Loan, you must be able to provide a copy of one of the following:

• Australian Year 12 certificate or International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB) Diploma, or
• Achievement of an Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) qualification at level four or above. A transcript of your USI register for qualifications after 2015, is also acceptable, or
• Achievement of an approved Australian Government assessed overseas qualification, or
• A certificate of an approved literacy and numeracy assessment demonstrating achievement of ACSF Exit Level 3 or above.

Additional Requirements

You must also meet the following enrolment and loan application requirements:

• Provide EIT with information and documents confirming your identity and date of birth, and to establish that you meet the eligibility requirements for a VET Student Loan.
• Be over 18 years of age
• have a tax file number (TFN) or have applied for one. The personal details of your TFN with the Australian Tax Office must match the personal details you have provided to EIT, for example your name and date of birth (see Commonwealth TFN Student Fact Sheet). If you have applied for a TFN, but have not been issued with one yet, you must provide a certificate from the Commissioner stating that you have applied for one.
• have a Unique Student Identifier (USI) or be exempt
• intend to undertake your course primarily in Australia
• Submit an online course application form
• not have exceeded your lifetime Commonwealth student loan limit, which is set each year by the Commonwealth
• have read the VET Student Loans information booklet.
• have given any requested documentation to EIT and submitted the electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form (eCAF) online by the first census day no less than two business days after enrolling, and
• comply with ongoing Commonwealth engagement and progression requests to log on to complete your online student engagement form to confirm that you are a genuine student, continuing to study and the progress in your course. You will get these requests two or three times a year, depending on how long your course is. If you do not complete the form and survey within 14 days, you will become ineligible to continue accessing VET Student Loans to pay for the remainder of your course tuition fees.

IMPORTANT NOTE: students must meet all the Requirements listed above to qualify for a VET Student Loan. VET student loans will not be approved for students who do not meet eligibility requirements.

Language Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) Assessment

Where you cannot provide evidence of the Academic Suitability Requirements outlined above, EIT will enrol you into The Learning Resources Group LLN Robot Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF) assessment (an “Approved Government Skills Assessment” for VET Student Loans)  to determine your Language Literacy and Numeracy Skills, as follows:

• You will be enrolled into a reading and numeracy assessment and must demonstrate achievement of ACSF Exit Level 3 for both reading and numeracy
• Access to the LLN Robot assessment will be provided to you via email in the form of a link and login details.

When will you find out your LLN Assessment results?

If you receive an outcome of ACSF Exit Level 3 or higher for both reading and numeracy in the LLN Robot assessment, you will receive notification from EIT with the assessment results as soon as practicable. You may then continue with the VSL application process.

If you receive an outcome less than ACSF Exit Level 3 for at least one or both reading and numeracy, you will not meet the Academic Suitability Requirements for a VET Student Loan and your VSL application will be rejected. You will receive notification from EIT with the assessment results as soon as practicable and will be given the opportunity to re-sit the LLN assessment after three months, or when you have completed sufficient training to prepare to re-sit the LLN test.

EIT can offer you supporting learning resources which may assist you in improving your reading and numeracy level in readiness to re-sit the LLN assessment. These supporting resources are to be completed by you, at your own pace, and are provided at no cost to you.

Is there a cost to sit / re-sit an LLN Assessment?

There is no cost to you to sit or resit the LLN assessment. This includes any required supporting resources if you are required to re-sit the assessment.

What is the pass rate?

You will be required to demonstrate achievement of ACSF Exit Level 3 or above in reading and numeracy. Click here for more information.