Ward and Secretary, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations

This matter concerned an application by the Applicant to review the Respondent's decision to refuse to re-credit her VET FEE-HELP balance for two units of study, CUV50311 - 2015DIPLGD and CUV50311 - GDDYEAR2. The Applicant's grievance stemmed from her belief that she had been incorrectly charged for her second-year course, as she understood the tuition fees should have been the same as for the first year. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was required to determine whether the Applicant met the criteria for re-crediting her VET FEE-HELP balance under clause 46AA(1) of Schedule 1A of the *Higher Education Support Act 2003* (Cth).

The Tribunal considered the provisions of clause 46AA(1), which allows the Secretary to re-credit a person's HELP balance if satisfied that the person has not completed the requirements for a unit, or is taken not to have completed them under VET Guidelines, and that the VET provider engaged in inappropriate conduct. Crucially, the parties accepted that the Applicant had completed all the requirements for the units and had been awarded her Diploma of Graphic Design. This acceptance meant the Applicant did not satisfy the condition under clause 46AA(1)(a)(i) of having not completed the unit requirements. Furthermore, the Tribunal found that neither sub-clause of 46AA(1)(a) applied, as the Applicant had successfully completed her course and received her diploma.

Given that the Applicant had completed the units and been awarded her diploma, the Tribunal concluded that the application for review had no reasonable prospects of success. Consequently, the application was dismissed pursuant to section 42B(1)(b) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth). The Tribunal noted that while not necessary for the decision, it referred to certain documents provided by the VET provider to the Respondent, which were also provided to the Applicant, in an attempt to address the Applicant's grievance regarding the provider.