Financial support through fee concessions, scholarships and grants, student loans and living allowances can help with study and living costs while you’re training.

Concessions

Concessions will be provided for students who:

  • hold a health care card
  • hold a pensioner concession card
  • hold a pensioner concession card issued by the Department of Veteran Affairs
  • are a prisoner of a South Australian correctional institution

Students claiming a concession will be required to pay a minimum of 50 cents per training delivery hour.

The maximum concession allowable is $1.35 per hour. Providers will be reimbursed for the concession up to the $1.35 maximum for fees above the minimum of 50 cents per hour.

TAFE SA scholarships and grants

TAFE SA offers financial help though scholarships and grants. 

Student loans through VET FEE-HELP

If you’re studying more expensive VET courses (diploma, advanced diploma, graduate certificate and graduate diploma courses) with an approved VET provider, you may be able to get a low-cost student loan called VET FEE-HELP.  

An approved VET provider is a registered training organisation who has been approved by the Australian Government to offer VET FEE-HELP assistance to their students.

You can get a VET FEE-HELP loan if you are:

  • a student of any age
  • an Australian citizen or holding a permanent humanitarian visa and resident in Australia for the duration of study
  • studying toward a diploma and above
  • studying with an approved VET training provider.

A VET FEE-HELP student loan allows you to borrow funds to help pay for all or part of your tuition fees. The government will pay your fees to your training provider on your behalf; when you get a job you pay the loan back through the taxation system once your income is above the minimum repayment threshold.

For a list of providers who are approved to offer VET FEE HELP, see approved VET providers. Keep checking the list for updates as more South Australian providers are likely to be added during 2012.

Apply through your provider to access the loan.

Learn more about VET FEE-HELP.

Allowances

Living and other allowances available to eligible students include:

  • Youth Allowance is for full-time students or Australian apprentices aged 16 to 24 and people aged under 21 who are looking for full-time work or undertaking a combination of approved activities.
  • Austudy is for full-time students and Australian Apprentices aged 25 years or over.
  • Tools For Your Trade payment initiative will provide tax exempt payments to eligible trade apprentices to buy tools.
  • Fares Allowance is for tertiary students who are living away from their permanent home to study.
  • ABSTUDY offers a range of allowances to help Indigenous students and Australian Apprentices.
  • Assistance for Isolated Children is for families with a child who cannot attend school locally because of distance or special needs.
  • Pensioner Education Supplement helps pensioners on income support to get help with education expenses.
  • Saver Plus Program helps you save for training costs such as computers, text books and trade tools by matching your savings, dollar for dollar.