Objective
...
Objective
This page provides a detailed workflow on how to submit an electronic Commonwealth assistance form Assistance Form (eCAF) request to the Government via Paradigm on behalf of a student.
Complexity:
Status | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
Status | ||||
|
Status | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
Page Contents
Statustoc | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
Assumptions
The Student has already been accepted into a Course and has been enrolled into units with a Census date in the future
The Student has declared their intention to defer course fees to the Government
eCAF type determined from HEIMS e490 field on the course enrolment record
The system will use the minimum (closest) unit enrolment census date that has not yet elapsed
...
Background information
The eCAF (Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form) supersedes the need to have students complete paper based forms for both FEE-HELP and HECS-HELP. Previously other eCAF methods were accepted by HEIMS but these are being phased out. Providers are therefore required to submit eCAF information either directly into the HEIMS eCAF portal or via the Paradigm eCAF integration.
The order of processing an application is important when using the Government's Online eCAF portaleCAF portal. If a student isn’t has enrolled into the unit(s) that a census date isn’t was not allocated and , then the system won’t will not allow transmission of the details for the student invitation. The institutions application process might need to be updated or altered in order to allow for the required information to be gathered prior to the eCAF submissioneCAF submission.
Student applies to study a course, indicated that they wish to apply for Fee-HELP /HECS-HELP and provides the evidence of Academic suitability - ATAR score, transcripts, SOA, or other documentation to prove eligibility . (These are required by the Government and providers are required to keep these documents as evidence of acceptance suitability)
Student is accepted by the institution then enrolled into units / subjects.
The provider then submits details to HEIMS that the student should be sent an invitation to complete an eCAF eCAF.
The student is then sent an email with an Encrypted PASS-KEY to complete the required information including a valid Tax File Number (TFN)
Key terms and concepts
Info |
---|
Please note: Obtaining a CHESSN and Help balance have also been included in this flowchart to demonstrate the process. This doesn’t replace the CHESSN workflow just precedes it. Also obtaining Help balances needs to be done periodically to reflect the students current help balance. |
Application process flowchart
...
Note |
---|
...
Be advisedA Student must |
...
enrol in a unit of study with a Census date in the future before submitting an eCAF |
...
to the Government. Students must return the completed form |
...
prior to the census date to |
...
obtain a valid form / enrolment. |
The table below outlinesthe outlines the key fields that need to be completed as part of the eCAF workflow:
Field Name | Description | Sample Data |
---|
eCAF | Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form, More commonly known as Fee-Help Form or HECS-HELP form. This replaces the paper based forms and other internal electronic forms. | |
FEE-HELP | Fee-Help is a loan Scheme that assists eligible students to pay all or part of their tuition fees. This loan is subject to 25% Government loading | For more information on Fee-Help click here |
HECS-HELP | HECS-HELP is a loan scheme to help Commonwealth Supported students to pay their student contribution amounts through and loan or upfront discounts. This loan has no Government loading | |
API | Application Programming Interface. Part of a server that receives and requests and sends responses. Here it is a programmed link between Paradigm and the |
Government E-CAF System | Login details received from the Government to link Paradigm to the E-CAF portal | |
HEIMS Census date | The date after which a student incurs a debt for the unit(s) of study in which they have been enrolled This date can not be set less than 20% of the duration of the teaching period as outlined in the HESA and AIP | |
HITS provider code | Each provider is given a Unique 4 digit identifying code that is used in HEPCAT / HITS, this data is stored in the provider tab in Paradigm. | |
Element Numbers | Unique identifiers of required data / questions asked by the Government in order to provide accurate data on Students, Courses, units and providers. These are used with in Paradigm and HEPCAT to help in ensuring data integrity across all providers. A full list can be viewed | A full list of these can be viewed here. Each Element number refers to a data field within Paradigm. However not every field has an elements. These fields contain non-reportable data. |
HEIMS Course code | E307 - The code assigned by the provider to uniquely identify a course of Study. This code is used in HEPCAT reporting | |
CHESSN Number | A commonwealth Higher Education student number (CHESSN) is a 10 digit number provided by the Australian Government to all students who are in receipt of either HECS-HELP or FEE-HELP. It is a unique number that remains with the student regardless of if they change institutions. This means that HELP debts can be tracked to ensure that the student does not exceed their allocation. |
Workflow
Expand | ||
---|---|---|
|
...
How to Submit an eCAF for completion
|
...
|
...
|
...
Select the “Online eCAF submission” option
...
|
Expand | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||
How to Retrieve an eCAF
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
Expand | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||
How to Enable the Paradigm eCAF integration
Paradigm has the capability of submitting an electronic eCAF |
...
request to the government for the student to fill out and must be done prior to the first census date of the student's studies that they are wanting to defer to the government. This functionality requires a specific type of access to the eCAF website |
...
called "API System Access". Providers wishing to implement a direct integration between Paradigm and the government eCAF site |
...
must complete the following form: |
...
...
...
...
vet-student-loans/resources/government-ecaf-api-system-access-request-form.
Once the request is approved, you will receive |
...
a set of testing credentials from the government and a series of steps that you must complete before receiving live system access. |
...
by raising a ticket directly |
...
on our Helpdesk site. Our support team will confirm when the account details have been added to your site and will ensure that your instance of Paradigm is directed to use the test eCAF system |
...
, until such time as you have received live system access. After successfully completing all of the above steps you will receive a final set of access credentials from the government. These should be forwarded to the Silverband support team |
...
so our team can confirm your site is directed to use the live eCAF system and ready to be used in a production capacity. You can update the eCAF API credentials as needed (if expires) via the paradigm interface. Read more: https://silverband.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PKB/pages/368574486/Update+eCAF+API+Login#How-to-set%2Fupdate-the-eCAF-password-via-the-Interface%5BinlineExtension%5D |
Expand | ||
---|---|---|
| ||
|
Expand | ||
---|---|---|
| ||
|
Expand | ||
---|---|---|
| ||
In the event that you forget the eCAF API password then you must request assistance from the |
...
eCAF Helpdesk (https:// |
...
...
tcsisupport.gov.au/support/contact). The password you receive from the |
...
eCAF Helpdesk is temporary and must be changed before it can be used within Paradigm. Please visit https://ecaf.education.gov.au/provider and enter the API username and the temporary password. The eCAF site will then request you to enter a new password. This new password must then be confirmed with the Silverband support team to ensure that the Paradigm to government eCAF integration is fully operational. |
Useful External links
...
eCAF student portal: https://ecaf.education.gov.au/home
eCAF provider portal: https://ecaf.education.gov.au/provider
Government eCAF fact sheet: https://docs.education.gov.au/documents/ecaf-fact-sheet
Further reading
Filter by label (Content by label) | ||
---|---|---|
|
Related Pages
Related Labels |
---|