TCSI March Newsletter 2025

All providers are invited to attend upcoming webinars and drop-in sessions.

These sessions are an excellent opportunity to get up-to-date information and to ask any questions you might have about TCSI.

A list of upcoming TCSI webinars can be found below:

To attend the scheduled 2025 monthly TCSI webinars live, please register via the TCSI News Centre webpage.

Recordings of previous webinars can be found at the following locations:

• For monthly provider webinars, please see the ‘Published Newsletters, Webinars and other media’ section of the New Centre webpage.

Please note, recordings of drop-in sessions are not shared. Any messages that emerge from these sessions will be communicated by email, the monthly provider webinar and/or the newsletter.

The 2024 Higher Education Provider Student data collection is due to be signed off by 17 April 2025.

Verification is part of the reporting requirements under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA). All Higher Education Providers that are approved under HESA must complete the 2024 HEP student data verification process by 17 April 2025.

We encourage providers to access the Data Verification webpage for comprehensive information and instructions about the process.

The recordings for the TCSI February 2025 Provider Webinar and the TCSI March 2025 Provider Webinar are recommended resources for providers to refresh their knowledge and learn useful tips to assist when verifying your data.

Scheduled Validations (SV) SV00022, SV00023 and SV00126 have been temporarily switch off in TCSI and existing notifications removed.

As advised during the TCSI March 2025 Provider Webinar, a decision has been made to temporarily remove SV00022, SV00023 and SV00126 from TCSI, with all triggered notifications wiped from the system.

• SV00022 was designed to check that a E632: Australian Tertiary Admission Rank has been reported for students who recently left school.
• SV00023 was designed to check that a E605: Selection Rank has been reported for students who recently left school.
• SV00126 was designed to check that a student with a current E358: Citizen Resident Code of ‘4’ has a E661: Term Address Country Code in Australia (‘1101’, ‘1102’, or ‘1199’).

Removing false positive notifications on the Provider Notifications report in TCSI Analytics will ensure providers are focusing on genuine issues prior to signing off the 2024 HEP Student verification.

These SVs are expected to be returned to production after the 2024 HEP Student verification is complete, and the validations are functioning as intended.

Update on the batch process of transferring higher education loans from TCSI to the ATO.

On the 15th of each month, the Department of Education reviews newly reported loans with census dates in previous or earlier months. This process helps to ensure loans are correctly reported before being sent to the ATO. The Department aims to complete this process by the end of each month. For example, if a loan is reported on 20 March with a census date on or before 31 March, it will be reviewed on 15 April and transferred to the ATO by the end of April. Loans with census dates prior to 1 July 2023 are excluded from this process.  

Providers monitoring loan statuses will notice affected loans retain the ‘ACCEPTED’ loan status. For the release of the loan, providers must ensure all requirements for the successful transfer of a loan are met (i.e. the Tax File Number (TFN) is verified in TCSI, a USI is reported in TCSI, and scheduled validations have been resolved).

Loan reversals and remissions will not require the approval of the delegate and will continue to be processed to the ATO according to the current system design.

Providers should review the Critical Loan Error dashboard and the Provider Notifications report in TCSI Analytics. These reports highlight issues that need to be addressed to ensure accurate and compliant data reporting.

Please note that processing of VET Student Loans to the ATO is not affected by this process.

Issues have been identified with the coding of E392: Maximum student contribution code for Professional Pathway Psychology and Professional Pathway Social Work units of study.

We ask providers offering Commonwealth Supported Places in psychology and social work to check their 2024 data before signing off your collection (due 17 April 2025). Please ensure units of study are identified as Professional Pathways (E392: Maximum student contribution code = 8) if they meet all the requirements outlined below.

A Professional Pathway Psychology unit of study must meet the following criteria:

1. Be part of an approved course as listed on the Department of Education’s website (noting the E308: Course name must be identical to the published course name).
2. The student does not meet the definition of a grandfathered student in Schedule 1 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA).
3. The E464: Discipline code for the unit of study must start with 0907.
4. The E310: Course of study type must be either a Bachelors Pass (10), Bachelors Honours (09) or Bachelors Graduate Entry (08).

A Professional Pathway Social Work unit of study must meet the following criteria:

1. Be part of an approved course as listed on the Department of Education’s website (noting the E308: Course name must be identical to the published course name).
2. The student does not meet the definition of a grandfathered student in Schedule 1 of HESA. 
3. The E464: Discipline code for the unit of study must start with 0905.
4. The E310: Course of study type must be either a Bachelors Pass (10), Bachelors Honours (09), Bachelors Graduate Entry (08) or Masters (Coursework) (04).

Please note that for courses of study which meet the criteria for both Professional Pathways Psychology and Professional Pathway Social Work, E392: Maximum student contribution code must be marked as 8 for all units which have a E464: Discipline code starting with 0905 and 0907.

If a unit does not meet all the requirements of Professional Pathways Psychology or Social Work, then the E392: Maximum student contribution code cannot be 8.

Issues have been identified with the coding of E312: Special course type for Clinical Psychology courses.

We ask providers offering Commonwealth Supported Places in Postgraduate Psychology courses to check their 2024 data by 17 April 2025. Please ensure courses are only identified as a Clinical Psychology course (E312: Special course type = 27) if:

1. The course is accredited by the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) for the purposes of registration as a psychologist, and
2. The APAC course accreditation level is Level 3-4 or Level 4, and
3. The course is accredited by APAC in one of the following areas of practice:
   • clinical,
   • clinical neuropsychology,
   • community,
   • counselling,
   • educational and development,
   • forensic,
   • health, or
   • sport and exercise.

If a course of study does not meet all these criteria, then E312: Special course type cannot be 27.

If you are not sure if a course meets these criteria, please contact CGS@education.gov.au.

The E490: Student status code = 261, should be used for domestic Commonwealth supported students enrolled in enabling or FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses.

Providers should report students in FEE-FREE Uni Ready or enabling courses with an E310: Course of study type of 30 (Enabling course).

Providers should report full-fee paying students in enabling courses with the E490: Student status code that reflects their relevant full-fee paying circumstance, e.g. 230 for those deferring all or part of Enabling course tuition fee through FEE-HELP or 302 for those who paid full Enabling course tuition fee.

Update to student status code specification

The department is making a minor change to the E490: Student status code = 261 to reflect the introduction of the FEE-FREE Uni Ready program in 2025. 

The meaning section of E490: Student status code = 261 will now read: A domestic student enrolled in an enabling/FEE-FREE Uni Ready course (i.e. bridging or supplementary programme)

Please contact FEE-FREEUniReady@education.gov.au with any queries.