HECS

[Anchy]

Hey guys.

I recently completed the enrolment questionnaire. So, i was born in New Zealand, came here in 2000 and am a Australia citizen. Am i eligible for HECS? I completed the questionnaire and i then clicked on the HECS-HELP tab and it says i don't need to fill in the form because i'm not eligible and now this tab has disappeared.

Thanks

[Professor Polonsky]

Any Australian citizen is eligible, regardless of country of birth. (New Zealand citizens on the 444 special category visa are not, however, which may be the cause of the error.)

Try refilling the questionnaire, and if that doesn't work, contact the university.

[Adequace]

If you're an Australian citizen you are eligible.

I'm also born in NZ but I've only came to Australia in 2013. Do I need to get a PR or citizenship to be able to receive student loans? (Mind you I don't graduate HS until a couple years.)

What are the requirements for me to be able to get PR or citizenship? What's the process?

Sorry about this, I tried googling it and it was pretty confusing to understand.

[Anchy]

Any Australian citizen is eligible, regardless of country of birth. (New Zealand citizens on the 444 special category visa are not, however, which may be the cause of the error.)

Try refilling the questionnaire, and if that doesn't work, contact the university.

Yeah i tried and the tab still doesn't appear anymore. Who do i contact regarding this? Or should i wait till one of the sessions?

[Professor Polonsky]

If you're an Australian citizen you are eligible.

I'm also born in NZ but I've only came to Australia in 2013. Do I need to get a PR or citizenship to be able to receive student loans? (Mind you I don't graduate HS until a couple years.)

What are the requirements for me to be able to get PR or citizenship? What's the process?

Sorry about this, I tried googling it and it was pretty confusing to understand.

New Zealand citizens who don't have a PR are not eligible for HELP loans. Having said that, they are eligible for Commonwealth Supported Places, which substantially reduce the cost of the degree (to about $6-10k per year today).

While this may change by the time you get to uni, as part of the Abbott government's proposed reforms, you still need to have been physically present in Australia for the past 8/10 years.

You can't get citizenship straight off the bat - you need a PR first. Permanent residency would require you or your parent/guardian to meet the criteria for one of the visas - most likely a work visa, but possibly also a family visa. Ask your parents/guardians about it first.

Yeah i tried and the tab still doesn't appear anymore. Who do i contact regarding this? Or should i wait till one of the sessions?

Call 1800 MONASH asap, in my opinion. While there's still a while until census date, you don't want to miss out on HELP loans.

[MDMA]

Sorry to hijack thread. I don't have a TFN. Am I to put it quite frankly, fucked? Or do I have a date to get it by?

[Professor Polonsky]

Nah, you're fine. You just need to apply for one by the census date, which is 31 March - and you'll probably get it by then if you apply now, too.

You can apply online, but keep in mind that requires an AusPost interview. There's a very easy way of doing it through your school, but it might be too late for that.