Higher Education Provider Updates June 2024

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Proposed changes to indexation of HELP loans

On 5 May 2024, the Australian Government announced changes to the way that indexation is applied to HELP loans, subject to the passage of legislation. The proposed change is in response to recommendations made in the Australian Universities Accord Report.

Once legislation is passed, the changes will cap HELP indexation to be the lower of either the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the Wage Price Index (WPI), with retroactive application from 1 June 2023.

Once implemented, Individuals will receive a credit to their outstanding student loan debt balance for any difference between the indexation rate under current legislation and the new indexation rate.

Individuals who have repaid their HELP loans after the 1 June 2023 indexation may still receive an indexation credit via a refund to their nominated financial institution account as recorded by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), assuming they have no outstanding tax debts. Individuals will not be required to action the refund; credits will be administered by the ATO. However, individuals should ensure that their banking details are up to date with the ATO.

Promotion of the change to indexation

Throughout May, the Department proactively communicated the proposed change to indexation through publishing news articles, FAQs and banners on its websites, www.studyassist.gov.au, www.education.gov.au, and www.myHELPbalance.gov.au.

It also worked collaboratively with the ATO and Services Australia for similar messaging to be published on their websites, including ATO’s Online Services via myGov.

All communication efforts directed students to the indexation credit estimator page, www.education.gov.au/helpestimator. The estimator provides an indicative amount of the credit that a person will receive when legislation is passed. Promotional efforts were deemed a success with the credit estimator page seeing a very high level of traffic leading up to indexation on 1 June 2024.

Student support policy

In response to the Australian Universities Accord Report, the Australian Government introduced the Higher Education Support Amendment Bill 2023 in August 2023, and it passed in October 2023.

From 1 January 2024, all higher education providers (HEPs) are required to have, and comply with, a Support for Students policy in accordance with section 19-43 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA).

The Support for Students Policy is designed to ensure that students receive adequate academic and non-academic support to allow them to reach their potential. The policy also recognises student agency: that ultimately students have the primary responsibility for accepting support and for their own success.

Additional requirements commenced on 1 April 2024. Each provider must have information on the supports that are available to students; and how those supports are provided; in addition to how they are communicated to students, so students know how to access them (section 49A and 49B of the Higher Education Provider Guidelines 2023).

The Department has established a ‘Support for students Data Working Group’ with representation from across the higher education sector to develop a reporting template and requirements. HEPs are required to submit their first report on how they have complied with their Support for Students Policy by 1 March 2025.

Further information on the Support for Students Policy is available on the Department of Education’s website at www.education.gov.au/new-requirements-support-students.

Processing of HELP loans to the ATO

The Department of Education, in line with advice from the Australian Government Solicitor, is seeking to progress amendments to the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA) relating to the processing of HELP loans. The amendments are being designed to apply a consistent legal framework to the assessment of student eligibility for Commonwealth assistance under HESA.

Until such time as the amendments are passed, the Department has strengthened reporting and approval processes to ensure that students are eligible for and receive the correct HELP loan record.

The Department's process involves the controlled release of loans. HELP loans not yet released will be placed on hold until the controlled release list is reviewed and approved for release by the program delegate. The initial backlog of approximately 2.1 million loans for loans entered up to 30 April 2024 have now been transferred to the ATO and processing has begun on loans entered up to 31 May 2024 which should be transferred by mid-July.

It is anticipated that loans will then be released on a monthly schedule capturing all loans up to the end of the previous month. i.e. loans up to the end of June 2024 will be transferred by the end of July 2024.

Loans with a census date on or after 1 July 2023 will not be impacted by indexation on 1 June 2024 as indexation is only applied to loans older than 11 months old.

FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses

The Government will provide $350.3 million in additional Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding over four years, commencing on 1 January 2025 to fully fund FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses to provide more students with an enabling pathway into higher education, with focus on students from underrepresented backgrounds.

Universities will be supported to improve the quality and consistency of FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses.

This will result in 30,000 students studying in FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses each year by 2030, an increase of 40 per cent in student numbers, and doubling the number of students by 2040.

More information is on the 2024-25 Budget: FEE-FREE Uni Ready Courses fact sheet at www.education.gov.au/about-department/resources/feefree-uni-ready-courses.

Commonwealth Prac Placements

In response to the Australian Universities Accord Report, the Australian Government is establishing a Commonwealth Prac Payment for eligible nursing, midwifery, teaching and social work students doing their mandatory placements. A payment of $319.50 per week will be available for eligible higher education students while they are undertaking their placements.

For VET students, the Government will be administering the payments through a new IT build at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR)

For higher education students, the Government will work with higher education providers that have eligible students enrolled, to deliver this new assistance.  The department will be in touch soon to discuss implementation.

More information is available on the department’s website at: www.education.gov.au/higher-education/commonwealth-prac-payment.

Student Learning Entitlement Management System (SLEMS) Enhancements

SLEMS Enhancements

The Student Learning Entitlement (SLE) Policy is ongoing and to help manage it, the Student Learning Entitlement Management System (SLEMS) is in place, tracking students’ SLE consumption by USI.

SLE Specific TCSI Analytics Reports

To help providers manage the SLE policy, the Department is developing the following two SLE specific TCSI Analytics Reports, each of which contain three pages.

Student Learning Entitlement Overview Live Data Report

  1. Summary Student SLE Distribution – Number of students enrolled at provider by groupings of Usable SLE
  2. Student SLE Allocation – SLE details of students enrolled at provider
  3. Student Unit Level Enrolment – Details of units a student is enrolled in at provider

Student Learning Entitlement Course Coverage Live Data Report

  1. Summary Student SLE Coverage of Course Load – Number of students enrolled at provider by groupings of SLE Coverage of Course Load
  2. Student SLE Coverage of Course Load - SLE details of students enrolled at provider with proximity to consuming their SLE amount included
  3. Student Course Level Enrolment – Details of courses a student is enrolled in at provider

Vertical Double Degrees (VDD’s)

The Department has finalised the design to process VDDs in SLEMS and correctly award Additional SLE (ASLE). This has resulted in the creation of a new SLE table containing all VDDs offered by providers who report them as a single course in TCSI and includes the EFTSL value of the postgraduate component.

The table will be populated with input received from providers and reflected in SLEMS from June 2024. This will result in existing student records being reprocessed to ensure they have the correct amount of ASLE awarded where they were enrolled in a listed course on or after 1 January 2022.

New TCSI Real-time Validations (RTV’s)

A new warning RTV – RTV10924 has been deployed with the intent of warning providers where a student may not have sufficient SLE to complete the entirety of their course load in a Commonwealth supported place.

This warning will trigger when a course admission is reported for a student that results in their total course load exceeding their SLE amount. This is intended to prompt providers to discuss with students their ongoing enrolments and SLE utilisation.

For any providers that have questions regarding the SLE policy, please contact studentlearningentitlement@education.gov.au.

Tertiary Access Payment (TAP)

The TAP is a non-indexed, means-tested payment (up to $5,000) to school-leavers from regional or remote areas who need to relocate for full-time, tertiary education (Certificate IV and above) at an education provider located at least 90 minutes by public transport from their family home.

The TAP program guidelines expire at the end of 2024 and the department is currently working with Services Australia to update the program guidelines to cover 2025–27.

The department is interested in feedback from the sector regarding where or how providers may be able to assist in sharing information to potential eligible students about the TAP.

Any suggestions and/or requests for information, articles or promotional material about the TAP for providers to share with students, are welcome to be sent to tertiaryaccesspayment@education.gov.au.

More information, including eligibility and the application process, is at www.education.gov.au/tertiary-access-payment.

Tuition Protection Service (TPS) operations

The Tuition Protection Service (TPS) may assist students to either continue their studies through another course or different provider, or by being provided a refund or loan re-credit for education and training they paid for but did not receive.

The TPS Advisory Board met on 12 June 2024 and made their final recommendations to the TPS Director regarding the settings for the 2024 VSL, HELP and Up-front Higher Education Payments Tuition Protection Levies. The TPS Director has taken the Board’s final levy settings advice and is in the process of finalising the legislative instruments prior to 1 August 2024, as required.

Information on the TPS, including information for students and providers, is at www.education.gov.au/tps.

Tertiary Collection of Student Information (TCSI)

Student concordance functionality is now in production. The Department is reviewing the guidance materials and it will shortly be published at www.tcsisupport.gov.au.

For further information on TCSI and upcoming webinars and newsletters, please consult www.tcsisupport.gov.au/news.

HELP provider workshops

The Department is considering options for hosting a HELP Provider Workshops event in 2024–25.

Should any provider have feedback or suggestions, including preferences for workshop inclusions or format, please email comments to HEenquiries@education.gov.au.

NCI digital roadmap

In the 2024–25 Budget the Government announced $6.1 million for careers information and policy through the National Careers Institute (NCI), more information at  www.dewr.gov.au/about-department/corporate-reporting/budget/2024-25-budget.

The Department has already begun discussions with the NCI at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations about the development of a ‘digital roadmap’, which aims to integrate tertiary consumer digital platforms into the Your Career (www.yourcareer.gov.au) website.

Consolidating and centralising government resources will make it easier for students to engage in education and training content.

MyHELPbalance redesign

The myHELPbalance (www.myHELPbalance.gov.au) website is where students, providers and the department can view a student’s Commonwealth assistance usage and their available HELP entitlement. myHELPbalance receives over 500,000 visits each year.

The website is currently undergoing a re-design. Known IT issues are being addressed, which will improve the user interface, strengthen security and improve accessibility. The new design will simplify the information primarily into two sections:

  • The first section relates to a student’s available HELP entitlement
  • The second section relates to a student’s complete HELP loan history.

The complete HELP loan history statement, which can be exported, has been enhanced to include remitted loans; filter information, remove duplicate entries; add new columns for course name, EFTSL value and repayment.

In addition to small design changes on the provider log-In page, providers will now be able to view a student’s outstanding OS-HELP and STARTUP-HELP entitlement.

The Department expects the changes to be in production in July 2024.

Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form (eCAF) upgrade

The eCAF upgrade has been underway through 2023-24 and is almost complete.

The primary output of this project will introduce text tag references into eCAF definition templates. Text tag references will mean that variable information fields (e.g. minimum repayment thresholds; HELP loan limits; information booklets) will become independently managed, rather than hard coded. This will remove the annual issue where future year enrolments require permission to use current year eCAFs prior to the new year’s eCAF coming into effect. 

In the case where there are no legislative or policy changes, enrolments may continue from one year through to future year census dates as text tag references will remove the requirement for interim approvals. The introduction of text tag references has no impact on existing provider API endpoints.

Text tag references were released to the Government eCAF training environment on Thursday 20 June 2024 and the department intends to release this functionality into the production environment later in the year.

The IT project will deliver improved security measures with the release of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Providers should log in and set up additional MFA preferences in case they experience technical difficulty with the primary method.

New testing tool improvements have now been added to the training environment, to improve provider capability and API integration testing.

More technical detail relating to these eCAF updates were provided via the eCAF developers group. To join the group, please send a request to HEenquiries@education.gov.au.

Study Assist website re-design

The redesign of the Study Assist website (www.studyassist.gov.au) is almost complete and expected to go live in mid-July 2024.

As part of the project, the department has commissioned 3 rounds of user research and user experience testing with current and prospective students to inform new features and revised content. The most recent round of testing provided very positive feedback about the updated design and colour palette as well as the design features to support ease of navigation and locating appropriate resources.

The department are in the process of developing seven short, animated videos to complement the website content and explain key information related to Government financial assistance. The videos will cover the following topics:

  • Navigating the StudyAssist website
  • Overview of government assistance
  • Commonwealth supported places (CSP)
  • Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) loans
  • Contacting your provider
  • Census date

The department has taken on board feedback from higher education providers and has created a concierge landing page ‘for providers’ that will allow providers to access relevant content from the one spot, that is most relevant (without having to navigate the student-facing pages). The types of resources that will be housed on this page are:

  • Quarterly Provider Updates – published on www.education.gov.au/higher-education-provider-updates but will now be linked through the StudyAssist provider page
  • HELP publications (booklets and fact sheets)
  • Explainer Videos
  • Quick links to other website of relevance e.g USI, TCSI
  • Links to legislation and guidelines, including the Administrative Information for Providers (AIP) resource.

URL mapping and re-direction will be in place to ensure that existing hyperlinks URLs will continue to be operational.