Undergraduate Students (FEE-HELP)
Only students enrolled in a full-fee place for the Bachelor of Psychology and Counselling who choose to pay your tuition fees vis a FEE-HELP loan will be charged a 20% student loan tax on top of your tuition fees. This is a tax which is paid to the government and is not paid to Cairnmillar.
Undergraduate students will therefore pay 20% less overall if they are able to pay upfront. This is not technically a discount (as Cairnmillar receives the same payment amount either way) but it may be worth considering if you have alternative payment methods open to you.
Students who use a private loan such as Zeefi will also not have to pay the 20% extra student loan tax but should consider interest costs and other fees as well as seek independent financial advice.
See also:
- Tuition Fees and Unit Costs
- Change fee payment type (e.g. from upfront to FEE-HELP or FEE-HELP to Upfront)
- Payments, Bank Details & Refunds (for upfront and direct payments)
- Other Fees and FEE-HELP FAQs
Postgraduate Students (FEE-HELP)
Postgraduate students at Honours (standalone), Grad Cert, Grad Dip, Masters and Doctorate level do not have to pay a 20% FEE-HELP admin fee. FEE-HELP students are not eligible for the HECS-HELP discount if paying upfront.
The 20% additional student loan tax charged by the Australian government only applies to AQF7 or lower undergraduate study (i.e. Bachelors degrees). As such, most Cairnmillar students do not pay a student loan tax (e.g. FEE-HELP admin fee) at this time.
If the government choose to extend the tax to postgraduate study then the fee may apply to your studies from that point onward.
There is no discount for paying upfront instead of by FEE-HELP because the loan fee does not apply for postgraduate students.
No Student Loan Tax Downloads
Cairnmillar is a member of the independent tertiary education peak body ITECA. We encourage students to get involved in the ITECA Time To End The Student Loan Tax campaign if they can even if you are not directly impacted at this stage.
Removing this unfair tax from undergraduate students studying with independent providers would also remove the risk of the tax being extended to you as postgraduate students.
- Campaign Brochure – What is the student loan tax? [PDF]
- Campaign Brochure – FEE Help loan tax overview [PDF]
- Campaign Brochure – VET Student loan tax overview [PDF]
- Campaign Brochure – Understanding independent tertiary education [PDF]
- Campaign Brochure – Getting involved in the campaign [PDF]
HECS-HELP and CSPs
Students enrolled in one of our CSP Government Funded Short Courses who are otherwise eligible for a HECS loan may be receive a further government funded 10% discount if you choose to pay $500 or more of your HECS eligible student contribution direct or upfront.
For more information see: HECS-HELP up-front discount on the government StudyAssist website.
See also: