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The Fast-Track MBA
Designed for busy working professionals, this fully online MBA course is highly flexible and delivered with interactive, bite-sized content and personalised student support.
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Introduction to FEE-HELP
FEE-HELP is an Australian Government loan scheme that assists eligible students in deferring part or all of their tuition fees through a loan. The Australian Institute of Business (AIB) is an approved FEE-HELP provider.
The Commonwealth Government initially pays the loan amount directly to AIB on the eligible student’s behalf, which can be repaid during or after study via the Australian tax system. Interest is not applied to FEE-HELP debts for approved postgraduate studies, including the AIB MBA course. However, an index amount is applied each year. As of June 2023, this indexation amount is in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). For further details, refer to the loan Indexation section of the Study Assist website.
Your eligibility for FEE-HELP is not affected by your income and assets. For more information about FEE-HELP and to check your eligibility, visit the Study Assist website. You can read about your Fee Help Loan obligations in the government’s 2024 Fee Help Booklet.
Applying for FEE-HELP
If you are planning to request a FEE-HELP loan, you will need:
- a Tax File Number (TFN). If you don’t have a TFN yet, please apply online through the Australian Taxation Office website.
- a Unique Student Identifier (USI)*. To find out if you already have a USI, click here: Find Your USI. To create a USI, click here: Create USI
- a Request for FEE-HELP loan form, which will be provided by AIB during your enrolment process. If you have any questions about filling this out, your assigned Course Advisor will walk you through this.
- to fill out and submit your FEE-HELP loan form before the census date
When applying for a FEE-HELP loan at AIB, it is necessary to ensure that all personal details, including full name, date of birth, email, phone number, TFN and USI, exactly match those that are held with the Australian Taxation Office and USI Registry System.
*From 1st January 2021, it is compulsory for all new higher education students to obtain a USI in order to be eligible for Government financial assistance i.e. FEE-HELP.
What is a census date?
For any subject, the census date is the final day to make an upfront payment, apply for a HELP loan, accept a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) offer, or formally withdraw and is the date from students start to incur FEE-HELP debt for that subject. The Census Date is a minimum of 20% of the way through a subject. Each institution sets their own census date, you can find the census date for each AIB term on the Master Timetable which are all in Australian Central Standard/Daylight Time (Adelaide Time Zone).
A new student is anyone commencing a new course of study from 1 January 2021, and the census date for their first unit of study is on or after 1 January 2021. Depending on the circumstances, this includes students who are changing their course or their course specialisation, completing one course and then progressing into another, those returning from a study break or deferral, or transferring from one provider to another.
Repayment of your FEE-HELP loan
You will only start to repay your FEE-HELP debt once you earn above the compulsory repayment threshold. You can repay your HELP debt directly to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in two ways.
Compulsory Repayments:
Compulsory FEE-HELP loan repayments are made through the Australian income tax system. If your income exceeds the ATO’s minimum threshold, they will calculate your repayment and include it in your notice of assessment, even for income earned before you started studying. And as your income increases, so does your repayment rate, which is based solely on your income.
Your employer can withhold additional tax from your pay to cover your estimated FEE-HELP debt. This should cover your repayment, but only based on the income they pay you. If you have other income sources, you may have additional repayments. Inform your payroll officer or tax agent that you have a FEE-HELP loan to set up automatic payments by completing a Tax File Declaration. If you don’t inform your employer or tax agent by filling out this form, depending on your annual earnings you will likely owe a total amount on your tax return at the end of the financial year. You’ll find additional information on repaying your FEE-HELP debt on the Study Assist and ATO websites.
At the end of each financial year, the amount you have owing will automatically be indexed in line with CPI.
For information on specific repayment thresholds, visit the Loan Repayments on the Study Assist Website. For a general guide, use AIB’s FEE-HELP calculator tool to estimate your potential FEE-HELP repayments.
Voluntary Repayments:
At any time, you can also make voluntary repayments towards your FEE-HELP loan, which can be done through BPAY or credit card, and you’ll need your payment reference number to ensure the payment is credited to the correct account.
For more information on how to make voluntary payments, refer to Voluntary Repayments on the Study Assist Website.
Calculate your FEE-HELP repayments.
You can see how FEE-HELP might impact your finances with our personalised MBA FEE-HELP Calculator, including your total fee debt, your weekly take home pay and how long your repayments will last.
To find out more about AIB course fees and key dates, please visit the Information for Students page.
