Remission of debt

In special circumstances, government legislation may provide for students who withdraw from their unit after the relevant census date to have their:

  • HECS-HELP debt for those units remitted
  • FEE-HELP debt for those units remitted
  • VET Student Loan debt for a unit, or part of a unit, remitted
  • tuition fees refunded.

Criteria

To receive a remission of debt, the special circumstances must be:

  • unusual, uncommon or abnormal
  • beyond your control, and
  • make it impractical for you to successfully complete the unit.

The circumstances must make their full impact after the census date of the unit concerned. If a situation that prevents you from continuing study occurs before the census date, you are expected to discontinue the unit/s before the census date. Thus remission of debt is only applicable if you were not able to discontinue your study prior to the relevant census date and you were prevented from successfully completing the unit. A student cannot apply for remission if they have successfully completed the units of study.

Special circumstances

These may include:

  • medical reasons (e.g. illness occurring or worsening after census date)
  • family reasons (e.g. death, illness, unexpected/severe change in financial situation)
  • employment related reasons (e.g. compulsory transfer or change of hours)
  • unit related reasons (e.g. restructure of unit).

Apply for remission

To be eligible for a remission, you must apply in writing within 12 months of the withdrawal date, or, if you have not withdrawn, within 12 months of the end of the period of study in which the unit was or was to be undertaken. To apply please complete the Remission of Debt form (pdf, 231kb).

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