Student Entitlements Management System (SEMS) portal
Based on the combined, renewable Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) loan limit changes commencing from 1 January 2020, more students are going to need to keep tabs on their HELP balance, to ensure they have enough HELP assistance available to cover their tuition fees. They will be able to do this via an application called myHELPbalance.
As a person’s available HELP balance will be renewable, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will, at various points throughout the year, advise the department of a person’s repayments against their HELP debt. The department will then use this repayment information to increase the person’s HELP balance by the same amount reported, so they will be able to access those funds again, up to the relevant HELP loan limit of that year.
PAYG payments are not credited to a person’s HELP debt as they are deducted from their pay. These payments are not ‘received’ by the ATO until an individual submits their tax return for assessment by the Commissioner. As a result, it is expected that the largest repayment information being shared between the department and the ATO will be during the peak tax return season.
As the department finalises the data sharing scope with the ATO, there will be clear communication for students and providers around the scheduling of repayment information, with FAQs to myHELPbalance to address students’ questions.
Both students and providers will be able to access the application to view remaining borrowing entitlements. Students will also be able to view their study and loan history.
The department has conducted extensive user research that has informed the final design of myHELPbalance, with two student surveys receiving over 2500 responses. myHELPbalance is on track for the start of 2020. The myUniAssist web application will continue to run until the end of 2019, as the FEE-HELP limits continue to operate until 31 December 2019. On 1 January 2020, the myUniAssist portal will redirect students to the myHELPbalance portal.