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Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form (ECAF)

Topics include:

• Overview
• ECAF Screen Navigation
• FEE-HELP
• HECS-HELP
• VET FEE-HELP
• Tax File Numbers in ECAF
• Transaction Management

Overview

ECAF is a Student Connect application that enables students to complete the Commonwealth Assistance Form appropriate for their Course Attempt. This application includes the ability to record the student’s Citizenship, Tax File Number (TFN) and; for HECS-HELP, it allows the student to indicate how they intend to pay their contribution.

The Commonwealth Assistance Forms are available to eligible students as part of the online self enrolment process or via the ECAF option in the Student Connect menu.

In order to display during Self Enrolment, the STUDSTATUS step must be recorded for the WEB Enrolment Method Type for the student's Enrolment Category in ENRF0192 and ENRF0193.
If this application is invoked during self enrolment, the system determines the correct student status for the student, based on their responses to questions in the ECAF, and records this in Callista.

When the ECAF item is selected from the menu, a check is made whether the student has two or more courses with a status equal to ENROLLED, INACTIVE or INTERMIT. If so, it displays a course list for the student to select the requiredr course and then continue with the rest of the processing.

Access to the ECAF forms will be affected by the loan scheme associated with the Fee Category for a student's course. The current Loan Schemes available are:

• HECS-HELP
• FEE-HELP
• VET FEE-HELP.

Note: SA-HELP (for student amenity fees) is available via the SA-HELP online application described in SA-HELP.

ECAF Screen Navigation

The sequence of screens in ECAF correspond to the hard copy forms for each type of Commonwealth assistance. The system determines the appropriate form of Commonwealth Assistance for the student and displays the appropriate application. This may be:

a) FEE-HELP

The student's personal and course details are pre-populated for items 1-6 and cannot be updated in this application. The student answers a series of questions for item 7 and eligibility for FEE-HELP assistance is determined according to the FEE-HELP Eligibility flow chart below. Radio buttons may be pre-selected if the student's citizenship is already recorded in the system, but may be changed here. Selections here may affect the availablity of the Submit button for a student. Item 8 allows the student to record their Tax File Number or indicate that they can provide a Certificate of Applcication for a TFN. Once submitted or recorded in the system, an existing TFN will be represented by #########. Item 9 consists of a series of check boxes selected by the student to indicate that they understand their obligations relating to this application. These check boxes must be selected before their application can be submitted. Item 10 further defines the student's obligations for the student to read before submitting their application.

A History of Student Status changes for this eCAF application is displayed in the Declaration History at the bottom of this application.

The student clicks on the Submit button to submit their application.

FEE-HELP Eligibility

b) HECS-HELP

The student's personal and course details are pre-populated for items 1-6 and cannot be updated in this application. The student answers a series of questions for item 7 and eligibility for HECS-HELP assistance is determined according to the HECS-HELP Eligibility flow chart below. Radio buttons may be pre-selected if the student's citizenship is already recorded in the system, but may be changed here. Selections made here may affect the availablity of the Submit button. Item 8 allows the student to record their Tax File Number or indicate that they can provide a Certificate of Application for a TFN. Once submitted or recorded in the system, an existing TFN will be represented by #########. It also lists a series of conditions that the student must agree to if they are to receive HECS-HELP. Item 9 consists of a series of check boxes selected by the student to indicate that they understand their obligations relating to this application. These check boxes must be selected before their application can be submitted. Item 10 further defines the student's obligations for the student to read before submitting their application. Item 11 corresponds to the Declaration (to be signed) on the hard copy of the application. This is achieved in ECAF by submitting the application.   In item 12, the student indicates how they wish to pay their student contribution.

The student clicks on the Submit button to submit their application.

HECS-HELP Eligibility

c) VET FEE-HELP

The student’s personal and course details are pre-populated for items 1-6 and cannot be updated in this appilication.   The student answers a series of questions for item 7 and eligibility for VETHELP assistance is determined according to the VETHELP Eligibility flow chart below. Radio buttons may be pre-selected if the student's citizenship is already recorded in the system, but may be changed here. Selections made here may affect the availablity of the Submit button.   Item 8 allows the student to nominate if they are full fee-paying or a subsidised student. Item 8 allows the student to record their Tax File Number or indicate that they can provide a Certificate of Application for a TFN. Once submitted or recorded in the system, an existing TFN will be represented by #########. Item 10 consists of a series of check boxes selected by the student to indicate that they understand their obligations relating to this application. These check boxes must be selected before their application can be submitted   Item 11 further defines the student's obligations for the student to read before submitting their application.

A History of Student Status changes for this eCAF application is displayed in the Declaration History at the bottom of this application.

The student clicks on the Submit button to submit their application.

VET FEE-HELP Eligibility

Once the student has submitted a VET FEE-HELP ECAF, the system determines the appropriate Government Student Status Code from 401-409. These codes can indicate that the student has deferred a state government subsidised course, so the system must determine if the course is state government subsidised and, if so, which state government is funding that course. This will be achieved by checking the local institution address and postcode to determine the state.

The codes 401-409 are defined as follows:

• 401 - Deferred all/part of tuition fee through VET FEE-HELP - Non State Government subsidised
• 402 - Deferred all/part of tuition fee through VET FEE-HELP - Restricted Access Arrangement
• 403 - Deferred all/part of tuition fee through VET FEE-HELP - Victorian State Government subsidised
• 404 - Deferred all/part of tuition fee through VET FEE-HELP - New South Wales State Government subsidised
• 405 - Deferred all/part of tuition fee through VET FEE-HELP - Queensland State Government subsidised
• 406 - Deferred all/part of tuition fee through VET FEE-HELP - South Australian State Government subsidised
• 407 - Deferred all/part of tuition fee through VET FEE-HELP - Western Australian State Government subsidised
• 408 - Deferred all/part of tuition fee through VET FEE-HELP - Tasmanian State Government subsidised
• 409 - Deferred all/part of tuition fee through VET FEE-HELP - Northern Territory State Government subsidised.

Tax File Numbers in ECAF

If a TFN is not submitted with the initial form, another form, complete with all declarations must be re-submitted.
Tax file numbers submitted within an existing form will have the TFN recorded in the STUDENT_ECAF_COMPLETION table and also the STUDENT_COURSE_HECS_OPTION table.
The system allows a student to complete a eCAF, electing to defer the student contribution without recording their TFN. The student is able to submit their TFN at another time, but must do so prior to the applicable Census Date for the Enrolment Period, or Enrolment will be cancelled.
Once a valid TFN is entered and saved in the system, it cannot be accessed again using Connect functionality.

Transaction Management

Settings in SSFF1100 determine the system actions taken upon the submission of any of the ECAF forms. For the ECAF Self Serve Application:

• To log eCAF transactions, set the Log Transaction check box.
• To display a receipt within the eCAF application, set the Issue Receipt check box.
• To issue an email, set the Issue Email check box.

After the email and receipt are successfully issued, then the transaction log will be updated to include that an email and or receipt was issued and the email address that it was issued to.

The fields to log and the sequence that they are logged in (Prompt, Old and New values), are displayed in the SELF_SERVE_TRANSACTION_DETAIL table below:

* Denotes fields that need to be retrieved from the database prior to logging.

** Denotes that these values are logged with identical old and new values as there is no historic values to record.

*** Tax File Number. The TFN is not recorded. It does not have the students actual TFN. Only that it has been noted.

Some of the values logged are static and are not altered by the ECAF. These static values are:

• Person ID
• Given Names
• Surname
• Date of Birth
• Gender
• Course of Study Code
• Name of Course of Study
• Name of Institution
• HECS Form name

Note: There are other fields that cannot be altered by the user, but do change as part of the processing. This means they have distinct old and new values and are not included in the table above.

ECAF Transaction details are logged into the Self Serve Transaction Detail table for static values, the old value and new value columns will always contain the same value. This data is included in the log as contextual reference for Administrators reviewing the log.

Last Modified on 21 March, 2014 2:45 PM

History Information