Eligibility for a government subsidised place (Vocational study)

Check your eligibility for a government subsidised place in a vocational education program.

How to check if you are eligible

The Victorian State Government offers subsidised training across a number of RMIT programs. To be eligible for a government subsidised place, you must meet the Victorian State Government eligibility criteria.

  1. The Language Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) assessment and Pre-training Review (PTR)
  2. The Evidence of Student Eligibility (ESE) declaration

Read more information on each component below, or check your eligibility online.

When checking your eligibility, please note:

  • The below webpage contains general information about eligibility only. A full assessment of your eligibility will still be completed when you submit your online Evidence of Student Eligibility (ESE) declaration
  • Trainees are required to meet the standard eligibility criteria
  • Additional criteria may apply for apprentices, and is specified below.

The Language Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) assessment and Pre-training Review (PTR)

The Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) assessment and Pre-Training Review (PTR) are two important parts of the RMIT enrolment process. If you are applying for a government subsidised place in a Vocational Education (VE) program, you will need to complete an LLN assessment and a PTR.

The Evidence of Student Eligibility (ESE) declaration

As part of the enrolment process with RMIT, you will complete an Evidence of Student Eligibility (ESE) declaration online. For more information on ESE criteria, please explore the drop-downs below.

To be eligible for a government subsidised place, you must meet the Victorian State Government eligibility criteria, which includes location, citizenship and education history, as outlined below. The program you have applied for must also be offering government subsidised places.

Location and citizenship

You must be physically present in Victoria while participating in all training and assessment. This includes study by distance or online delivery. Exceptions may apply for students who reside in an eligible border postcode.

You must also be either:

  • an Australian citizen, or
  • an Australian Permanent Resident (holder of a permanent visa), or
  • the holder of a Permanent Humanitarian visa (PHV), or
  • a New Zealand citizen, or
  • an asylum seeker on an eligible visa.

You will be required to provide evidence of your citizenship or residency status before you can enrol, so make sure you can obtain original documents (or certified copies) that prove your citizenship or residency status.

Education history

To be eligible you:

  • must not have started, or be due to start, more than two government subsidised Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) qualifications  in the same calendar year, and
  • must not have started, or be due to start, more than two government subsidised skill sets in the same calendar year, and
  • must not be currently enrolled, or plan to enrol, in two or more government subsidised programs (either AQF qualifications and/or skill sets) at the same time, and
  • must not be currently enrolled in secondary school. This includes students enrolled in any government, non-government, independent, catholic or home school. School-based apprentices and trainees are exempt from this criteria.

An apprentice is a person who has entered into a registered training contract to study an apprenticeship qualification in a relevant Victorian Approved Training Scheme.

An apprentice does not include a person who:

  • has entered into a training contract registered interstate
  • is undertaking a pre-apprenticeship, or
  • has a registered training contract in a qualification defined as a traineeship in a relevant Victorian Approved Training Scheme.

If you are an apprentice you will need to provide proof that you meet the location, citizenship, and education history criteria in order to be eligible for a government subsidised place.

Note: If you are commencing an apprenticeship and have already started or are scheduled to start qualifications on the Victorian Government's list of Approved Pre-Apprenticeship and Pathway Qualifications, you may still be eligible to enrol in two other vocational education programs in a government subsidised place.

Free TAFE for Priority Courses is a government initiative that covers full tuition fees for priority courses/programs for commencing students.

Students must first meet the Victorian State Government eligibility criteria (outlined above) which includes location, citizenship and education history. If you are eligible, Free TAFE for Priority Courses will cover the tuition fees for your whole program. Students will still be required to pay for other fees, such as the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF), graduation fees and material fees.

You can only access one Free TAFE for Priority Course in your lifetime, even if you don't finish the course (exceptions apply).

Please note that some individual programs may have additional eligibility requirements.

Free TAFE Pathway Courses

Students who enrol in Free TAFE pathway courses, can access more than one Free TAFE place if they have previously completed a Free TAFE course that is part of the same Free TAFE pathway.

Students will still be required to pay for other fees, such as the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF), graduation fees and material fees.

Please visit Free TAFE for Priority Courses for more information and a list of Free TAFE programs offered at RMIT.

If you are referred to training under a special initiative, you may not need to meet particular criteria to be eligible for a Victorian government subsidised place.

Asylum Seeker VET program

The Asylum Seeker VET (ASVET) program provides asylum seekers with an exemption from the usual citizenship and residency criteria required for Skills First-funded training in Victoria. To be eligible for training under the Asylum Seeker VET program, you must meet all other eligibility criteria for a government subsidised place.

Individuals must:

  • hold any humanitarian, protection of refugee visa in Australia; or
  • have applied for a humanitarian, protection or refugee visa and hold a bridging visa for this purpose; or
  • have made an application under s.417 or s.48b of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) which is yet to be determined and hold a bridging visa.

Individuals must have a visa with study rights, and work rights are required for programs that include work placement.

Evidence of visa entitlement includes your Passport, Immicard, Visa Grant Notice or your current Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) entitlement statement.

Victorian State Government legislation states that the following individuals are not eligible to apply for a government subsidised place in a vocational education program.

  • Anyone who does not meet the eligibility criteria (listed above) for a Victorian government subsidised place
  • A prisoner held at a prison within the meaning of the Corrections Act 1986 (Vic.)
  • A person who is detained under the Mental Health Act 2014 (Vic) or the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997 (Vic.) or the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) at the Thomas Embling Hospital
  • A person who is detained (other than on weekend detention) on community based orders made under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic.) or the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) or who is held on remand in a youth justice facility

These exclusions do not apply to individuals on community based orders made under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic), or those who are held in Judy Lazarus Transition Centres and able to physically access training outside of a custodial setting without supervision.

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RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.