VET Student Loans (VSL) Provider Newsletter – February 2026

Welcome to the VSL Provider Newsletter – February 2026

We welcome you back to VET Student Loans (VSL) for 2026 and hope you are enjoying a great start to the academic year.

In this edition we have important reminders for VSL providers regarding the provider fee limit, setting and publishing census days and actions required to protect students’ privacy. A reminder, also, to update your contacts and key personnel in HITS.

February 2026 VSL pay run date

Due to the temporary manual processing of payments in VSLConnect, the VSL payment runs will be processed later than the usual payment date of the 24th of each month until further notice. The delay is to ensure you receive your payments for all units with a census date in the relevant month.

Payments for this month’s pay run are planned to be processed on Friday 27 February 2026, enabling all units with a January 2026 or earlier census date to be paid. This is subject to the standard eligibility and payability checks.

We will communicate payment dates at the beginning of each month, until automated monthly pay run cycles commence. Upon commencement of automated monthly pay run cycles, delays in processing times will be significantly reduced.

We apologise for any inconvenience this delay may cause and appreciate your patience and understanding. If you have any questions, please contact the VSL Payments Team at vfhvslpayments@dewr.gov.au.

eCAF release scheduled for February 2026

The next eCAF release includes updating eCAF to reflect the 5 gender codes as shown in the Standard for Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables, 2020 | Australian Bureau of Statistics. The 5 gender codes that will appear on the User Interface Portal and their associated single letter codes to be used in the spreadsheet and API functions are listed below.

* Where a provider selects ‘Different term’, there will be a mandatory free text field for the different term to be entered.

The eCAF release schedule is:

• eCAF Training environment – Monday 16 February 2026
• eCAF Production environment – Thursday 19 February 2026

Update to the VSL (Courses and Loan Caps) Determination 2016

The list of courses approved for VET Student Loans (VSL) has been updated. The changes to the VET Student Loans (Courses and Loan Caps) Determination 2016 (Determination) took effect from 1 January 2026.

The Determination is updated to ensure that courses approved for VSL retain currency, reflect industry and workforce needs, and that loan caps remain sufficient to provide for the course cost for most full fee-paying students.

The update to the Determination:

• adds 6 courses that newly meet VSL eligibility criteria
• adds 25 courses that are replacement courses for currently approved courses,
• removes 43 courses that are non-current and have an expired teach-out.

You can find further information at VET Student Loans Course List and Loan Caps (for providers). The fact sheet advises what you need to do to offer these courses using a VET Student Loan and how to apply new loan cap bands.

Reminder regarding the provider fee limit

A provider fee limit is a condition of approval that may be imposed on you under section 34 of the VET Student Loans Act 2016. It caps the VET Student Loan amounts that can be paid to you. A provider fee limit is imposed on providers to protect the integrity and sustainability of the VSL program and interests of VSL students.

It is compulsory for you to comply with this condition as compliance action may be taken if you are found to be non-compliant. Any past incident of breaching the condition for provider fee limit may be taken into consideration when assessing an application for a further approval period.

We advise you to regularly monitor your current provider fee limit usage by utilising the VSLConnect Provider Fee Limit Report in TCSI Analytics, particularly towards the end of the calendar year.

Please email VSLProgramIntegrity@dewr.gov.au or call the VSL Applicants’ Enquiry Line on (02) 6240 0650 if you need more information on your provider fee limit.

Protecting student privacy - key reminders for VSL providers

Protecting student privacy is a core requirement under the VET Student Loans Act 2016 and the Australian Privacy Principles. You must have clear, accessible procedures for collecting, storing, using and correcting personal information, and ensure students understand how their data is managed. These procedures must be published prominently on your website.

You are required to collect and securely retain parental consent forms and key documents that verify student identity, citizenship or residency, for five years. You must ensure these records are handled confidentially and associated electronic systems for storage and communication are secure, provide for disaster recovery and remain up to date.

Strict rules apply to Tax File Numbers (TFNs). You must not request, view, store or upload TFNs. Students must enter TFNs directly into the eCAF system, and TFNs must never appear in uploads from HITS or other records you hold.

Student data must not be sent to TCSI Support or the department via email as it is not a secure transmission method. If you need to send private or sensitive information to TCSI Support or the department, contact us so we can provide a secure method.

Any suspected data breach must be reported to the department within one business day. You must continue to update the department and follow any specified directions. Failure to comply may result in civil penalties, criminal offences, or compliance action, including potential suspension of approval.

Understanding census day requirements

Census days play a critical role in protecting students from unintended financial liability. A census day is the final date a student can withdraw from a unit without incurring a VSL debt.

You must set and publish census days for each course, or part of a course, on or before the earliest enrolment date. You must publish census days prominently on your website in a location that is easily accessible and does not require a login. Once published, this information must remain available to students.

Every course must include at least three census days, with one census day per unit or study period. Each census day must fall no earlier than 20% into the relevant unit or part of the course, calculated from the start date through to when completion is reasonably expected.

You can use the Census Day Calculator to calculate census days. The calculator won’t give you a date that falls on a Saturday or Sunday – it will give you the following Monday instead. It’s your responsibility to check whether the date is a public holiday. If it is, set the census day on a subsequent business day. Census days cannot fall on weekends or public holidays, as students must be able to lodge withdrawals on a business day.

You may only vary a published census day without approval if the change is made on or before the census day, does not disadvantage students, and is necessary to correct an administrative error or address a genuine change in circumstances. Any other change requires the Secretary’s approval.

Reviewing your census day settings and publication processes regularly is a simple but effective way to remain compliant. More information on census days can be found in the VSL Provider Manual Part 26 – Census days.

2026 VSL Tuition Protection Levy

The Tuition Protection Service (TPS) is an Australian Government initiative that supports international and eligible domestic students affected by an education provider default. Non-exempt VSL providers are required to pay the annual VSL Tuition Protection Levy, which funds the student placement and loan re-credit activities of the TPS for VSL students following a VSL provider default.

The TPS will be consulting leviable VSL providers on the draft settings of the 2026 VSL Levy from March 2026. Notices regarding consultation will be sent to contacts listed in HITS. To ensure you receive notices from the TPS, we encourage you to review and update your contact details in HITS.

Further information about the TPS and the VSL Levy is available on the TPS website.

Updating contact details in HITS

A reminder to update HITS with current contact information. Changes to your Contact List are required when a person leaves your organisation or new staff commence.

The HITS User Guide provides the steps required to update your Contact and Key Personnel Lists. You should also check email addresses in the Key Personnel List and Contact List routinely, including the spelling of names.

Please email VSLProgramIntegrity@dewr.gov.au when you have:

• updated the Contact List and Key Personnel List
• uploaded documents notifying of changes to your organisation, including notifications to the relevant regulator.

New staff should also subscribe to receive the VSL Provider Newsletter and important notifications at VET Student Loans – subscribe.

Claim the Tertiary Access Payment (TAP) now

Students from regional or remote areas moving for tertiary study can claim TAP now for study in 2026. TAP helps eligible first year tertiary students, 22 years old or younger, with costs of moving for study.

Students who move from inner regional areas get a one-off lump sum of $3,000. Students who move from outer regional and remote areas get up to $5,000, paid in two instalments.

Claiming TAP doesn’t stop students from getting other student payments like Youth Allowance, ABSTUDY or the Relocation Scholarship. If they are eligible for these payments, they will get them as well as TAP.

Students can claim TAP between 1 January and 31 December for their first year of tertiary study through Tertiary Access Payment – Services Australia.

Subscribing to the VSL Provider Newsletter

The VSL Provider Newsletter is how we let you know about program updates and reminders about the program administrative requirements. Let your colleagues know they can subscribe to the newsletter at VET Student Loans – subscribe. You can access previous copies of the newsletter at VET Student Loans Provider Newsletter.