VET Tuition Assurance Assurance

As of 29 June 2009, South West TAFE is an approved VET FEE-HELP provider.

It is important to note that although approved, the Institute is still within its disallowance period. However due to legislative amendment, students are able to access VET FEE-HELP through us.

If our VET FEE-HELP Provider status becomes subject to disallowance by Parliament, students will be unable to access VET FEE-HELP for the remainder of the course in which they are enrolled. They will only incur a VET FEE-HELP debt for units with a census date prior to any disallowance motions being passed.

South West TAFE has current membership with the TAFE Directors Australia Tuition Assurance Scheme (Vocational education and Training). Please click here for details of the scheme.

Statement of VET Tuition Assurance Assurance

1.		Under the provisions of Schedule 1A of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA) and Chapter 3 of the VET Provider Guidelines, South West Institute of TAFE (the First Provider) must comply with the VET Tuition Assurance Assurance requirements.This is to protect students in the event that South West Institute of TAFE ceases to provide a VET course of study in which a student is enrolled. The meaning of ‘ceasing to provide a VET course of study’ is set out at paragraph 3.1.25 of the VET Provider Guidelines. A copy is available from: VET Provider Guidelines PDF

2.		In the event that South West Institute of TAFE ceases to provide a VET course of study in which a student is enrolled the student is entitled to a choice of:

	a.	an offer of a place in a similar VET course of study with a Second Provider without any requirement to pay the Second Provider any VET Tuition Assurance fee for any replacement VET units (this is known as the “VET Course Assurance Option”);

	OR

	b.	a refund of his or her up-front VET payments for any VET unit of study that the student commences but does not complete because South West Institute of TAFE ceases to provide the VET course of study of which the VET unit forms part (this is known as the “VET Tuition Assurance Fee Repayment Option”)

3.		South West Institute of TAFE has met the VET Tuition Assurance assurance requirements as specified in the VET Provider Guidelines through its current membership of the TAFE Director’s Australia Tuition Assurance Scheme. Contact details for TAFE Director’s Australia Tuition Assurance Scheme are:

		TAFE Directors Australia National Secretariat Canberra Institute of Technology Southside Campus Woden GPO Box 826 CANBERRA ACT 2601 Telephone: (02) 6205 4600 Email: Secretariat@tda.edu.au Website: www.tda.edu.au

4.		If South West Institute of TAFE ceases to provide a VET course of study, TAFE Director’s Australia Tuition Assurance Scheme will send a student enrolled in the VET course of study a Written VET Tuition Assurance Assurance Offer (the Offer) advising the student of the options available under the VET Tuition Assurance assurance requirements. The Offer will include directions that the student must follow in order to notify TAFE Director’s Australia Tuition Assurance Scheme of the choice they have made for each affected VET unit. TAFE Director’s Australia Tuition Assurance Scheme will provide this Offer within twenty (20) Business Days after it knows, or should now by reasonable enquiries that the South West Institute of TAFE has ceased to provide the VET course of study.

5.		For the purposes of VET FEE-HELP, all courses offered by South West Institute of TAFE in accordance with the course requirements of clause 45 of Schedule 1A of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 are covered by the TAFE Director’s Australia Tuition Assurance Scheme (’the Scheme’) as part of South West Institute of TAFE’s membership of the Scheme.

A STUDENT MAY CHOOSE EITHER:

6.		The VET Course Assurance Option:

	a.	Under the VET course assurance option, a student will be offered a place in a similar VET course of study by TAFE Director’s Australia Tuition Assurance Scheme. If the student accepts this option, TAFE Director’s Australia Tuition Assurance Scheme will make all necessary arrangements to ensure a student is able to enrol with the Second Provider in the similar VET course of study. This offered VET course will lead to the same or a comparable qualification without any requirement on the part of the student to pay the Second Provider any VET Tuition Assurance fee for any replacement VET units (that is, units that the student had commenced but not completed because the VET course ceased to be offered). A student will receive full credit from the Second Provider for any VET units of study successfully completed at South West Institute of TAFE.

	b.	The Second Provider nominated by TAFE Director’s Australia Tuition Assurance Scheme may have different VET Tuition Assurance fees to the fees the student would have paid for VET units of study which were part of the VET course of study the South West Institute of TAFE ceased to provide but which the student had not yet started studying.

	c.	A student is not obliged to enrol in a VET course of study with a Second Provider offered by TAFE Director’s Australia Tuition Assurance Scheme under the VET Course Assurance Option. However, if he/she enrols with any other VET provider there is no obligation on that VET provider to offer full credit transfer for the VET units of study completed with the South West Institute of TAFE or to offer replacement VET unit/s free of charge.

	OR

7.		The VET Tuition Assurance Fee Repayment Option:

	a.	Under the VET Tuition Assurance Fee Repayment Option, TAFE Director’s Australia Tuition Assurance Scheme undertakes to pay the student the total of any up-front VET payments already paid by the student for any VET units of study the student has commenced but not completed because the VET course ceased to be offered. Students selecting this option will also have their FEE-HELP balance re-credited for the uncompleted VET units.

Contact:
Telephone: (03) 5564 8911
Email: info@swtafe.vic.edu.au