Summary

Amends the:

to: require students commencing from 1 January 2021, and all students from 1 January 2023, to have a unique student identifier (USI) in order to be eligible for Commonwealth assistance; provide that a student's HELP balance is taken to be reduced immediately after the census date for HECS-HELP, FEE-HELP, VET FEE-HELP assistance, and immediately after the census day for vocational education and training (VET) student loans; provide undergraduate students seeking FEE HELP loans with an exemption from the requirement to pay the 25 per cent loan fee for units of study with census dates from 1 April to 30 September 2020; and make minor and technical amendments; and to require that all applications for VET student loans made on or after 1 January 2021 must include the student's USI. Also validates certain HELP loans and VET student loans by enabling the secretary to determine certain students who, due to having more than one Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number, have exceeded the HELP loan limit, and allow these students to repay the resulting excess debt amounts through the taxation system.