Higher Education Loan Program (HELP)

The Australian Government offers a Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) which provides eligible students with a loan to help pay for their tuition fees.

Repayments on these loans may be deferred until your income reaches over $47,195 in the 2011/2012 financial year (indexed each year).

There are three types of HELP available:

  • HECS-HELP for eligible Commonwealth Supported Students
  • FEE-HELP and VET FEE-HELP for eligible VET, Undergraduate and Postgraduate Australian Citizens
  • OS-HELP for eligible Commonwealth Supported Students who want to study overseas.


Commonwealth Supported Students



A Commonwealth Supported Student means that the Australian Government makes a substantial contribution to the cost of your education. You are required to pay the balance through Student Contributions.

To be a Commonwealth Supported Student you must be allocated a Commonwealth Supported Place. At Avondale, Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP) are only available for Domestic students studying teacher education or nursing. CSP's are allocated on the basis of academic merit.