24. Special circumstances

You may be able to apply for a special circumstances loan re-credit if your circumstances have made it impractical for you to complete your studies. In determining whether circumstances are special circumstances your provider may have regard to one or more of the following:

• medical circumstances
• circumstances that relate to you personally or to your family
• circumstances relating to your employment.

Circumstances are special circumstances if they are:

• beyond your control
• occurred or worsened on or after the census date and
• prevented you from completing your studies.

Just failing a unit of study or changing your mind are not a good enough reason to apply for special circumstances.

You cannot apply to have your VET Student Loan debt removed for units of study that you have successfully completed.

If special circumstances prevented you from continuing your studies, you may consider applying to your course provider to request the cancellation of your debt.

How do I apply to have my debt removed under Special Circumstances?

To apply for a special circumstances loan re-credit, you must apply in writing to your provider within 12 months of the census day for the unit/s. Your provider will require that you submit an application form with supporting evidence. Your provider must be satisfied that special circumstances prevented, or will prevent, you from completing the requirements for your course, or the part of your course.

Your provider may give you more time if you can demonstrate it was not possible for you to apply within the 12-month period.

What if I am not happy with the decision about my Special Circumstances application?

If you’re not satisfied with how your course provider has dealt with your special circumstances request, you can ask them to review their initial decision. This is called an internal review. The decision letter given to you by your course provider will have instructions on how to request an internal review.

If you’re not satisfied with how your course provider has dealt with your internal review, you can then apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal in your state or territory to have your course provider's decision reviewed.

My course provider is closed, how can I apply for Special Circumstances?

We may be able to consider your special circumstances re-credit application only in circumstances where your provider is closed and unable to act, or has failed to act, and we are satisfied the failure is reasonable. For more information you can contact us via the online enquiry form at Student Enquiries.