VET Student Loans is a program that helps eligible students
to enrol into approved VET Courses.
All VET Student Loan (VSL) providers (‘providers’) that are approved under the VET Student Loans Act 2016 are required to report data for
the VSL Data Collections.
The VSL collection consists of data about:
- courses
and campuses
- student's enrolment information, study load, debt of all units undertaken, personal
details and
- unit
of study completions.
The SMS allows you to record information against the related VSL Data elements.
In this tutorial, we will show you how to set your programs
to ensure that VSL Data Collection data elements are completely filled out and
ready for VSL reporting.
IMPORTANT: The VSL fields and VSL Reporting
function are available in the SMS as part of the Maximise package and
are BETA RELEASES. Please contact Support if you would like to use this feature. Fields related to VET Student Loans will also be displayed in the Smart Enrol form when the "VET Student Loan Collection" toggle is set to YES. The following fields will display in the Confirmation page of the enrolment form.
- Tax File Number
- Disability Effective Date From and Disability Effective Date To - will only display if student selected YES to "Do You Consider Yourself to Have a Disability, Impairment or Long-Term Condition?" field.
- Citizen Resident Code
- Citizenship Effective From Code
NOTE: If you cannot see the VSL templates below in your library, please contact us at support@eskilled.com.au to have it uploaded to your account. - VSL
- VSL (No Payment Gateway)
This tutorial provided information on the different fields that are relevant to VET Student Loans and the VSL Data Collection. It is important to understand your reporting requirements and ensure that VSL-related data is recorded and completed for VSL Reporting.
Setting Up your Program Instance for VET Student Loans
VET Student Loans should be set up on a Program Instance Level. The settings below only applies when the related program is set to
"Nationally Accredited Program".
Step 1. Go to Programs > Program
Instance > AVETMISS tab > then go to the VET Student
Loan Collection section. Switch the toggle to YES to enable VET Student
Loan Collection.
Step 2. Go to Details tab > Program
Participation field. Select the participation option from the drop-down list. Then click Update.
NOTE: The Program Participation field will
become a mandatory field when VET Student Loan Collection is enabled.
Step 3. Go to Units tab. Select a unit
and then tick Action > Edit. New VSL fields will display
in the units modal.
- Census Date (Days From Unit Start) -
refers to the Unit of Study Census Date.
- For WA
Reporting only, the Census Date field will remain the same when VET Student Loan Collection is set to NO.
NOTE: There is another way to set the Census Date.
This is via the Group Unit level.To do that, go to Schedule > Student
Groups/Intakes > search and select a group > then click Units tab.
To set the Census Date, click the button beside the unit
code. The edit modal for Attendance Group Unit will appear.
By default, the Census Date is the Start Date of
Group Unit plus Census Date (Days from Unit Start Date). This can now be overridden
at Student Group level.
NOTE: Census Date will only display on the data table once the user chooses to add at the Group Unit level. - Unit of Study is Full Year - Check
the box if the Unit of Study is a full year unit of study. The unit of study is
a full year unit if the duration of the unit is a full academic year or
longer.
- EFTSL (Equivalent full-time student load) - measure of the the study load based on a student undertaking a course on a full-time basis over an academic year.
- This
is an input field that allows integers up to 9 decimal places.
- Mode of attendance - classification
of the manner in which a student is undertaking a unit of study.
- This
is a dropdown field with the options available listed.
Step 4. Set the VSL Loan Cap amount.
From the Program Instance page, go to Financial tab. Select an existing Tuition fee or create a fee with type = Tuition. Set the VSL Loan Cap
in the New or Add/Edit Modal. The VSL Loan Cap refers to
the cap on the amount of VSL that a person can borrow. This amount is set on a
per program basis. This amount cannot be greater than the Tuition fee set.
Setting up Locations for VET Student Loans Reporting
When the VET Student Loan Collection toggle is enabled,
additional fields in Locations were added in relation to VET Student
Loans.
Step 1. In Settings > Locations,
when a Location is added or edited, new fields related to VSL is
displayed.
Campus Effective From
Date - should reflect a date that is earlier than any other effective dates related to VSL Reporting. The date does not need to
reflect when a campus began to operate.
Campus Effective To
Date - not required, can be set to prevent future activity
against campus.
Enrolling Students with VET Student Loan
To create an enrolment with VET Student Loans, follow the steps below:
Step 1. To add or edit an existing enrolment for your VSL Student, go to Students > search and select a
student > Enrolment tab > click New (to add a new enrolment) or Action (to edit existing enrolment)
In the Enrolment Wizard, switch the VSL Enrolment toggle to YES to signify that this student enrolment has VET Student Loans. Enabling this will display all related VSL fields in the Enrolment Wizard.
Step 2. Set or update the Enrolment Status of the student. Enrolment status option will now include options in the dropdown specific to VSL Reporting.
The following are the additional VSL-related Enrolment
Status:
- Approved Leave
- Completed but continuing a related course
- Transfer to complete a related course
- Transfer to continue a related course
NOTE: The above-listed enrolment statuses will also be available in setting Email and
Task Workflows in Program Instances.
Step 3. In the Payment Tab, new VSL fields are also displayed.
NOTE: Payment Tab is only visible when adding a new enrolment. For existing enrolments, this tab will no longer display. - VSL Loan - a new column, labeled VSL, was added in the Payment data
table . This is an input field available for Tuition-type fees. By default
this will display the amount set in the VSL Loan Cap in Program Instance > Units.
- In
the Payment Data table, under the Total Value, a new label called VSL Gap Fee is displayed. This amount reflects the Total Fees minus
the VSL Loan. The VSL Gap Fee is considered the Total Amount to be Paid.
- The VSL Loan Amount will only discount from the tuition fee. Tuition fees
may vary depending on the value set for VSL Loan amount per student.
- Payment
plan invoices will be based on this VSL Gap Fee.
Step 4. In the AVETMISS tab of the Enrolment Wizard,
additional fields related to VSL will display.
NOTE: The fields below are only visible if the VET Student Loan Collection (Program
Instance) and the VET Enrolment (Enrolment Wizard) toggles are set to YES. - Tax
File Number - refers to the Tax File number of the student.
- CHESSN -
Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number (CHESSN) is a number
to uniquely identify a Commonwealth assisted student.
- Year
of Arrival in Australia - The year in which a student/applicant,
not born in Australia, first arrived in Australia.
Additional fields related to VSL in the AVETMISS Tab
Disability Section:
In the Disability Section, if the "Has Disability,
Impairment or Long-Term Condition" is set to "YES", the following new fields will be displayed.
- Disability Effective From Date - the date on which the student advises the VSL provider that they have disability.
- Disability Effective To Date - the date on which the student advises the provider that they no longer have a
disability.
Culture Section:
In the Culture section, the following fields will also
display:
- Citizen Resident Code - A code indicating a student's/applicant’s citizenship and residence status. Dropdown
field with the available options.
- Citizenship Effective From Date -
the date on which the provider receives evidence of a student's citizen
resident status (either when enrolling or when their citizenship resident
status changes).
Education Section:
Under the Education section, the following fields will
display:
- Basis for Admission - A code which
identifies the applicant background and, for those with recent secondary education, the main assessment pathway used by the education provider in making
an offer of admission to a course. This is a dropdown field.
- Credit Used Value - refers to the EFTSL value of credit/RPL used towards the requirements of the course. This
field requires a number.
- Credit Basis - refers to the code which records the nature of the study for which credit /RPL was offered. This
is a dropdown field.
NOTE: For the fields Credit Used Value and
Credit Basis, multiple sets of data can be added by using the ADD button. Note that these fields will need to be completed in pairs, each time a new set is
added. Clicking continue saves the newly added fields. Users can also delete by
clicking on the Delete (x) symbol beside the field.
Step 6. Continue with the Enrolment Wizard as
normal until you reach the Submit button.
VSL Fields in the Students' Units tab
Once the enrolment is completed, users can now update the Students Units in the Units tab to complete VSL related fields.
The following fields will have the same information set on
the Program Instance, otherwise these fields will be blank.
- Census
Date - If the Census date has been set in the Program Instance,
the same data will be populated for this field. Otherwise, this will be blank.
- If
the Program Instance is Intake, this field will follow what is set in the program instance.
- If
the Program Instance is Dynamic, the date will be calculated from the Enrolment Start Date + the number of days set in the Program instance for
this field.
- Unit
of Study is Full Year
- EFTSL
- Mode of Attendance
- Unit
of Study Status Code
The following fields will also be displayed:
- Course Assurance Indicator - An indicator that identifies whether the student’s enrolment in the unit of study is the result of an approved VET
Student Loans course assurance arrangement. This toggle is set to OFF by
default.
- Student
status code - A code which indicates the student status for a
unit of study, OS-HELP or SA-HELP loan. You can select from the dropdown
field options.
- Amount
charged - refers to the amount charged for the unit of study or
student services and amenities fee. The default value set here is the Unit's Tuition Fee plus the HELP Loan Amount. Users can override this value by entering a numerical value in the input field.
- Amount
paid upfront - default value is set as the Unit's Tuition Fee,
which is calculated by the total tuition fee divided by the number of
Units. The data in this field can be overwritten.
- Loan
Fee - refers to the loan fee for a unit of study.
- HELP
Loan Amount - refers to the the HELP loan amount for a unit of
study or SA-HELP loan. The default value is set as the VSL Loan
divided by the number of units. This field can be overwritten by entering
numerical value in the input field.
- Remission
reason - A code which identifies the reason for a remission.
Select from the dropdown menu.

NOTE: A Recognition of Prior Learning Code also
displays when the the Unit Outcome is either Recognition of prior learning
granted (51) or Recognition of Prior learning not granted (52).
And that’s how to set up your program instance for VSL report
collection in the SMS!
Congratulations
on completing this tutorial. We hope this has been helpful to you and your
organisation. For any questions or concerns regarding this function, please reach out to us via email at
support@eskilled.com.au.